Railway department decides to deploy police personnel in women local train coaches

Lakhs of citizens from Mumbai and nearby areas use the local trains for their every day commute. To improve the safety measures for women travelling by the local trains, the railways department has decided to deploy additional police officers.

Currently, the local train services are being run only for staff from the essential services due to which the number of women travelling by trains has reduced. The concerned department has noted that the coaches dedicated for women do not have many passengers both in the up and down route from the CST station. Considering this, the suburban railway has decided to deploy police officers from 7 pm onwards. 

Also Read: This is what MoS for Railways Raosaheb Danve says about resuming local train services

This measure is being implemented on an experimental basis, said the Railway Police. After the lockdown restrictions were eased, approximately 75 to 80 lakh passengers were noted to travel on the Mumbai Suburban Railway, of which 15 to 20 percent were women. Even though the services are operational only for the staff from essential service personnel, the local trains have only 20 to 25 lakh passengers travel on a daily basis, of which many are women. 

Earlier this month, people across the city were expecting local trains to start for the general public. Over the last few weeks, several citizens groups and opposition parties had demanded the local trains to resume for fully vaccinated citizens. Discussions were being held at the cabinet and Minister Tope informed about the possibility for the same to be allowed. However, CM Uddhav Thackeray denied the permission by stating that the public cannot be allowed in local trains keeping the third COVID-19 wave prediciton in mind as this could increase the risk and number of cases.

Also Read: Rajesh Tope issues clarification regarding CM's decision on Mumbai local train services

The bench at Bombay High Court (HC) also questioned the same and said that the citizens have lost the jobs during the pandemic and ones fully vaccinated should be allowed to resume their normal lives and daily activities.