Now that the authorities have approved public travel on trains starting February 1, the all-important question is how exactly will things work on the ground? While local trains are being run in Kolkata and Chennai, which have a lower volume of travellers, and even though they have devised ways, like a colour-coded ticket app, there have been crowds. Mumbai railways have neither developed an app nor installed the promised flap gates at key stations.

A local train parked at a car shed in Kandivli on Friday. Pic/Satej Shinde