MUMBAI : A day after Rail Minister Piyush Goyal allowed all female passengers to ride local trains in Mumbai, the Western Railway added four ‘special for women’ trains to its suburban network on Wednesday.
Women will be able to board the other suburban trains during off-peak hours as well, authorities said.
The railway authorities resumed local train services in Mumbai from June 15.
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As of now, only those engaged in essential services classified by the Maharashtra government can travel on local trains operated by Central Railway and Western Railway, via a QR code mechanism.
Central Railway has made the decision to increase the number of daily special suburban services from 481 to 706 as of October 19, 2020.
Breakdown of 706 suburban services by Central Railway:
Main line – 499 (slow services 309 and fast services 190)
Port Line – 187
Transharbour Line – 20
With the addition of four special women’s trains, Western Railway (WR) now operates six women’s-only trains. General daily services on the WR network increased to 704 amid the COVID-19 shutdown, a rail official said.
In addition, the Central Railway (CR) is running 706 local train services, including four special trains for women, in the city and the suburbs, he said.
Rail authorities have allowed women to ride local trains on the CR and WR routes during off-peak hours, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. onwards, starting Wednesday.
Goyal made the announcement on Tuesday, after the Maharashtra government sent a second letter to rail authorities to consider the request as soon as possible.
The state government had previously written to Ferrocarriles on October 16, requesting that all women be allowed to ride local trains.
- With contributions from agencies
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