Heena Sharma Blog

  The south-west monsoon arrived in Mumbai and its neighbouring areas on Wednesday, the IMD announced as heavy rains lashed the country's financial capital and suburbs since early morning. Local train services from Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji MaharajTerminus (CSMT) to neighbouring Thane and Vashi in Navi Mumbai were suspended due to water-logging on some railway tracks, officials said. Routes of some BEST buses run the city civic body's transport wing were also diverted, they said. A high tide of over four metres is expected around noon in the Arabian Sea, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. "It's monsoon arrival in Mumbai today," said Dr Jayanta Sarkar, head of the India Meteorological Department's (IMD) Mumbai office. Read More

  The Mumbai Division of Railways and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have fined 512 train passengers for not wearing face masks, a mandatory health protocol to be followed amid the COVID-19 pandemic . In a joint drive with the BMC, Mumbai division of Railways has fined 275 passengers for not wearing a mask in the train, informed the Chief Public Relation Officers (CPRO), Central Railway. They were charged Rs 200 each. Meanwhile, the Western Railways CPRO said 237 passengers were fined for not wearing masks while onboard. This comes as local train services have resumed in Mumbai after months of COVID-19 lockdown. Read More

  Western Railway and Central Railway have decided to start all suburban services by increasing the existing 2,781 services to 2,985 services on Mumbai Suburban network with effect from January 29. Central Railway has decided to increase the suburban services from the existing 1,580 to 1,685 services and Western Railway has decided to increase the existing 1,201 suburban services to 1,300 services with effect from January 29, the CPRO of both zones informed the press. Passengers permitted by the Ministry of Railways and Government of Maharashtra are only allowed to travel by the suburban trains. Others have been requested not to rush to the railway stations. Passengers have been advised to adhere to all norms, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) related to COVID-19 during the boarding, travel and at the destination. Read More

  In a bid to prevent crowding in local trains in Mumbai, railway authorities added 753 new special services from Monday, taking the total number of services on the suburban network to2,773, officials said. With this, the railway authorities have resumed 88 per cent of the total 3,141 suburban services which were being operated before the outbreak of COVID-19 , they said. During normal times before the lockdown, the Central Railway (CR) used to operate 1,772 services, while the Western Railway (WR) ran 1,367 services on the suburban network, they said. The local trains, considered, as the lifeline of Mumbai, were resumed for the emergency and essential services staff in June this year. To cater to the increasing crowd in suburban trains, the Central Railway has now added 552 more services on its routes, while the Western Railway has added 201 services, as per a joint press release issued by the CR and WR on Sunday. Read More

  Lawyers practicing in different courts and registered clerks of advocates are permitted to travel from Tuesday in special Mumbai suburban trains that are currently operating, Railway authorities said on Monday night. The permission will take effect on October 27 and will be in force till November 23, 2020, the Central Railway and the Western Railway said in a joint release. The release said practicing lawyers and registered clerks can use the suburban services on all working days only during non-peak hours up to 8 in the morning, between 11 am to 4 pm and 7 pm onwards till November 23. Earlier last week, the Railway authorities permitted women to travel on special suburban services during non-peak hours. Read More

  Train services came to a halt, homes and businesses were without electricity and people sweltered in humid heat as a grid failure resulted in massive power outages across Mumbai Monday morning. As the day progressed, power restorations efforts began on war footing. Trains have started to resume operations, beginning with CR's Harbour Line. The trains are carrying only essential services workers at present, which helped minimise the passenger inconvenience. Railway services across city on the Western Railway and Central Railway came to a grinding halt at 1005 hrs as a result of the power outage, with both the networks blaming power cut from Tata Power (their power supplier) for it. State's Power Minister Nitin Raut said the trouble emanated from Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company (MSETCL) facilities during a planned maintenance work. Read More

  The Maharashtra government is seriously considering resumption of normal local train services in Mumbai by October 15, Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' on Wednesday said quoting state minister Aaditya Thackeray . According to the Sena publication, Thackeray who is the environment and tourism minister, said the issue of resumption of suburban train services for common citizens is being considered as part of efforts to bring the state's economy back on track. In a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19, the local trains are currently being run only for essential services staff, state and central government staff, employees of nationalised and private banks, PSUs and pharma companies, and QR code-based identity cards are mandatory for them. Read More  

  Students appearing for the upcoming JEE and NEET exams in Mumbai, will be permitted to use the special suburban services of Central and Western Railways on exam days. According to a joint press release by the Central and Western Railways, the admit cards of the candidates will be considered as proof to enter stations with companions. The frequency of trains will also be increased to help the students. They have, however, been asked to follow SOPs and maintain social distancing during their journey. The National Testing Agency is scheduled to conduct the NEET on September 13 and JEE between September 1 and 6. Read More    

The Indian Railways restarted on Monday Mumbai suburban train services for transporting essential staff identified by the government. The Western Railways will run 73 pairs of suburban services, including eight between Virar and Dahanu Road, while the Central Railways will run 200 services – including 130 between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Kasara and 70 services between CSMT and Panvel. The first suburban train started from Virar for Churchgate on Monday morning. An estimated 125,000 essential staff, as identified by the state government, is expected to travel by these trains. “These special suburban services will not be for general passengers/public & will be strictly for essential staff as identified by the State Government of Maharashtra only,” said a railways statement. Read More

With an aim to ensure safety in railways, the Central Railway has come out with an innovative idea of installing visual indicators in local trains to Mumbaikars. Central Railway has installed a blue light visual indicator just above the entrance of one EMU coach for guiding the commuters not to board the running train, at the last moment. The indicator flashes when to stop boarding the train before it becomes unsafe and draws a boundary on the platform which is the minimum clearance level for commuters to avoid accidents while the train is in motion. The device will definitely act as a psychological barrier from boarding the moving train and also as a deterrent to the people. The work of installing the blue light visual indicator was carried out in Kurla car-shed of Central Railway under the guidance of DK Sharma, General Manager, Central Railway. Read More Business Standard