serpentine queues at ticket counters are now a common scenario across the city
The ticket queue at Diva station on Thursday
With an increased number of lady commuters taking to the Mumbai's lifeline on Thursday, scenes of crowds and long queues were witnessed at most of the stations on Central Railway (CR) and Western Railway (WR). A majority of this crowd was witnessed at the ticketing counters.
"Compared to Wednesday, Thursday saw a huge surge in the number of women travellers," Aksha Shah, who works for an NGO at Andheri said. Varsha Ghadai from Diva village said that there were long queues at the booking counter because less number of ticket windows were open. "The ticket queue climbed up the foot over bridge and beyond," she added.
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A ticket checker said that as women have been allowed to travel on trains, the division should increase the services as the current number of services are proving futile in maintaining social distancing norms limiting the capacity of every train.
CR chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar said, "This week local services were increased from 987 to 1,410. As soon as overcrowding was noticed at Diva station on Thursday, additional booking windows were opened and as a result, the crowd was normalised by 12.30 pm."
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WR chief public relations officer Sumit Thakur said, "At the time of the lockdown there were only three counters with seven shifts, but from Thursday, five counters with 16 shifts have been thrown open to cater with the crowds. Similarly at Virar, at the time of lockdown, there were four counters with 10 shifts, they have been increased to six counters with 14 shifts from Thursday."
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