Mumbai local trains open to general public from February 1

Local train services in Mumbai – suspended in March last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic – will open to the general public from February 1, an order issued by the Maharashtra government Friday stated.

The trains will run only at certain timings: from 4.15am to 7am, noon to 4pm, and 9pm to 1am. Essential workers can commute between 7am and noon, and from 4pm to 9pm.

The government has requested establishments to stagger their work schedule in a manner wherein their staff could avail the services of the local trains in the given timings.

On June 15 last year, locals first resumed for essential service providers, with the government issuing identity cards to them. By the end of October, it also permitted women to commute during certain hours of the day.
The state government had earlier considered resuming the services from January. The fear of the UK variant of the novel coronavirus forced it to defer this plan. But with economic activity almost back to normal and the plan to reopen secondary school classrooms in the city under consideration, the Uddhav Thackeray government was under pressure to resume local services.