Maharashtra requests Railways to allow travel via locals trains for bank, court employees

On Tuesday, the Maharashtra government requested the Railways to allow employees of various central government offices/establishments, high courts and public sector banks to travel by local trains. Earlier on June 15,  the Western Railway and Central Railway have decided to resume these services for essential staff as identified by the state government and the general public is prohibited from using these.

However, the final decision in this regard will be taken by Railways, the state government said. Earlier, Shiv Sena has appealed to the government to include the bank employees in the list of essential service providers and be allowed to commute by trains.  Lok Sabha MP and Shiv Sena leader Gajanan Kirtikar has written to the chief secretary of Maharashtra government appealing them to allow bank employees to commute by local trains.

READ: Mumbai local trains to run for essential service workers from June 15; Railways issues SOP

Mumbai locals resume services 

Local trains in Mumbai have resumed services from June 15 for the first time since the lockdown was imposed on March 23 to control the spread of COVID-19. The railways have decided to start the local services only for essential service providers while the general public will be prohibited from using them.

Western Railway will run 73 pairs of suburban services including eight pairs between Virar and Dahanu Road. Central Railway will run 200 services (100 up and 100 down) 130 services from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CSMT) to Kasara/Karjat/Kalyan/Thane and 70 services from CSMT to Panvel, a joint media release by the Western Railway and Central Railway said. 

The trains will run from 5:30 am to 11:30 pm with an interval of 15 minutes. "Maximum services will run between Churchgate and Virar, but few will also run up to Dahanu Road," the Railways said.

READ: COVID-19: Maharashtra tally soars to 1,69,883 as state announces lockdown extension

Maharashtra Tally Soars To 1,69,883 

Meanwhile, With 5,257 new cases of COVID-19, Maharashtra on Monday broke a five-day-long run of daily new record surges even as the state announced the extension of the lockdown till the end of July. The total number of Coronavirus cases in the state stands at 1,69,883.

The death toll rose to 7,610 after 181 patients succumbed to the illness, of which 78 died in the last 48 hours, and the rest 103 are deaths from the previous period. The number of recoveries jumped by 2,385 in the last 24 hours to reach 88,960. As of June 29, there are 73,298 active cases in the state.

READ: Mumbai: Sena demands bank employees be allowed to board local trains as services resume

READ: Mumbai: Sena demands bank employees be allowed to board local trains as services resume

(Image credits: PTI)