As Tuesday saw long queues at train stations, experts tell state to consider varied office hours
Passengers wear masks and gloves but stand too close inside the trains
On day 2, hordes of essential workers were seen crowding railway stations and trains. Long queues for tickets or people waiting to enter railway stations post their thermal and ID checks was a common sight outside several stations across the city. Also, with the government not staggering office timings, staff continued to crowd railway stations flouting social distancing rules.
At Mumbai CSMT, the queue of commuter returning home had extended till the bus depot owing to the temperature and ID checks. "It took me 40 minutes as the queue was till the bus depot. Thermal check and ID check of every passenger takes a long time. I stay at Kalyan and as a result of this, I missed my 5:30 pm train. Now the next one is at 6:53 pm. This is time-consuming," Lata Argade, a traveller said.
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The queue outside CSMT extended till the bus depot on Tuesday
"Once we enter the train, there is too much crowding with no social distancing being maintained at all. It is commuters who need to maintain this and no one is going to guide us there," Argade said.
Central Railway (CR) spokesperson said that several railway stations had long queues because every passenger was being checked for temperature and ID card to maintain the protocol.
Long queue for tickets at Thane station
However, there were a few travellers who did not mind waiting in the long queues. "Trains are always better than any other mode of transport. Road journeys are going to be tough during such times — even for a small distance," Mandar Abhyankar, administrator of the Mumbai Train Updates Forum said.
Transport expert Jitendra Gupta said the Maharashtra government failed in managing the crowd by not staggering the office timings which they had promised. "This will lead to chaos and rise in cases if it continues like this. It is in the hands of the government to curtail and stagger timings of their staff. The crowd outside Mumbai CSMT is a simple example of this," he added.
Commuters walk towards local trains at CSMT
"There was a very long queue for tickets Nallasopara station in the morning, while Virar was completely chaotic as more and more people came in today," Rajesh Kumar, another commuter said.
"At Thane station in the morning, there was a huge queue for tickets as just two ticket windows were open. After the issue came to light, five windows were opened and cops and RPF were sent to monitor the queues," commuter Ajit Mankar said.
People crowd at Malad station to board a train
Colour-coded QR passes soon
The state government will soon issue QR based e-passes to essential workers which will also bear colour coding to enable swift ticket checking. The state government has also been urged to ensure all those allowed to travel, are permitted only after ensuring that they are medically fit and do not come from a Containment Zone.
Rs 8,62,931
Total revenue generated by WR on Tuesday
In numbers: Day 2 on Locals
On WR till 2 pm, about 89 windows were opened at around 21 stations between Churchgate and Dahanu with 138 staff. About 4,488 single-day tickets were sold and 2,534 season tickets, with 1,839 extensions, bringing in revenue of R8,62,931.
On CR, till oon, about 7,808 tickets were issued. According to the official data, on Tuesday, approximately 35,000 commuters i.e. staff of essential services, as identified by the state government, travelled on both WR and CR till 8 pm.
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