MUMBAI: Central Railways said it has announced around
230 summer special trains that operate between Mumbai and stations in north and easter part of India to meet the additional demand of passengers during this time of the year as migrants are heading home town either due to loss of livelihood or to participate in elections and marriage events.
Soon after
Maharashtra chief minister Uddhva Thackeray announced stricter curbs on movement of people, a large number of people had gathered at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) to leave for their hometown.
On April 15, there were no scenes of overcrowding at LTT as CR has pressed into service special trains apart from 18 services which run on a daily basis to the north and eastern part of the country.
CR said that there is heavy deployment of security forces to prevent chaos and to ensure orderly boarding by bonafide passengers.
A CR official said, “Only those with confirmed tickets are allowed to board the train. If the demand is high, we deploy additional trains and also open booking windows to allow people to travel.”
CR’s chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar said, “Apart from running regular special trains we ran 13 summer specials from Mumbai and Pune divisions. So far, we have announced more than 230 summer specials and will be increased if required.”
Passengers are requested to travel with confirmed tickets and follow all norms mandated for
Covid-19, he added.