COVID-19: Mumbai local train users drop to a mere 20 lakh

A nearly empty local train at the otherwise bustling Dadar station on April 17. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

For the first time in many days, the footfall on local trains has plunged to just 20 lakh per day, almost half the number of commuters that had been travelling till last week.

The locals, the lifeline of Mumbai, ferried about 80 lakh people every day before the COVID crisis.

A senior official said that passengers on Central Railway, which usually has higher figures, dropped to nearly 9 lakh and those using the Western Railway suburban services numbered around 11 lakh on Saturday.

A Central Railway spokesperson said the number of users on April 15 was about 17.7 lakh, which came down to 13.5 lakh on April 16 and 9.3 lakh the next day.

According to a WR spokesperson, 11.3 lakh passengers used their locals on April 17 and they earned Rs 35.02 lakh for the day after issuing 97,905 daily tickets.

As of now there are no curbs on the number of local trains which are running at 95 per cent capacity, with the CR operating 1,686 services and WR 1,300 services a day.

Officials said that they would follow any new directives, if issued by the Maharashtra government, with full cooperation in this fight against the pandemic.