Mumbai Local News: Over 60 lakh passengers commute in a single day

Mumbai seems to be returning to normalcy with ease in restrictions and increase in the number passengers commuting in the suburban railway network.

According to reports, the single day passengers in Mumbai local crossed the 60-lakh mark on Monday, October 18 on both Central and Western Railways.

Bifurcating further, a railway official stated that nearly 32 lakh passengers commuted by local trains on the Central Railway (CR) while, 27 lakh passengers travelled by local trains on the Western Railway (WR).

Both, CR and WR have seen a rise in the number of monthly season railway tickets issued. As per accounts, between October 1 and October 18, CR issued 5,20,000 monthly passes, with an average of 28,000 a day.

Meanwhile, the WR has issued 272,317 monthly passes from October 1 till October 18, with an average of 15,000 passes daily.

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It has been almost two months since the doors of the local were thrown opened to the general public those fully vaccinated.

According to the data available, nearly 16 lakh railway passes have been sold on Central Railway from August 11 to October 18. On the other hand, around 7 lakh passes have been sold on Western Railway during the same time.

At present, the local train commuters are eligible for monthly passes only. However, if tickets become available for fully vaccinated people the numbers could be much higher. Moreover, it has also come to light that due to the non-availability of tickets, many passengers are forced to go for “illegal ticketless travel” by taking advantage of rush during peak hours.

Recently, the Maharashtra government announced that apart from those who are fully vaccinated and have completed 14 days since, even those individuals who aren’t able to take a vaccine owing to medical conditions, with a doctor’s certificate to confer this in addition to those below the age of 18 and are thus not eligible for vaccination will be treated equally to utilize certain services. This is likely to increase more passengers in the local.