Mumbai local trains to remain suspended till April 14 to contain COVID-19

The Railway Minister issued a circular on March 25, stating that all the local, passenger trains will remain suspended on the Western and Central Railways till April 14, 2020. This circular comes after the Indian Prime Minister announced complete lockdown in India for 21 days, i.e., till April 14, 2020, to contain the spread of Coronavirus.
Referring to this, an official from the Western Railways stated that all services were earlier cancelled up to March 31, and the shutdown has now been extended till April 14. During this period of time, freight and goods operations will remain operational.

As India is planning and continues to combat the threat of COVID-19, Indian Railways decided to not run any passenger trains till the end of March, the deadline extending further for now. Spread across the Central Railways and its Harbour line, and Western Railways, the local trains are the lifeline of Mumbai people, and ferry more than 8.50 million commuters across Mumbai, Palghar, Pune, and Raigad districts.

The deadly COVID-19 has claimed 13 lives so far in India, with the number of people infected rising to 670 as per the Health Ministry. With more than 70 Coronavirus cases reported in the state, Maharashtra is the worst affected in the country. As per the latest reports, total cases have nearly tripled over the past 10 days.

State and central ministries in India are still scrambling to assure citizens that essential items, such as groceries, milk, vegetables, medicines will remain available through the lockdown period, yet there is panic in the air.

Today, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman also announced a spate of measures while announcing the government’s relief package to mitigate the economic impact of the Coronavirus outbreak.