West Bengal: Railways to run 696 local trains from Wednesday

In a meeting on Sunday (November 8), The Eastern Railway announced that it will start running 615 suburban services in its Howrah and Sealdah divisions from Wednesday. South Eastern Railway will run 81 services in its Kharagpur Division. 

Local train services are resuming in West Bengal from Wednesday (November 11). The Eastern Railway announced on Sunday (November 8) that it will start running 615 suburban services in its Howrah and Sealdah divisions from Wednesday. South Eastern Railway will run 81 services in its Kharagpur Division.

The railways had planned initially to resume only its 10%- 15% services but later revised its schedule after realising that running fewer services may lead to overcrowding and a compromise on social distancing norms.

Also read: Coronavirus: Recovery rate nears 90% in West Bengal

The modalities involving crowd management and dispersal of people from stations will be discussed between officials of the state government and railways on Monday (November 9). The actual schedule of train running will also be placed before state officials by the railways during this meeting. 

The railways have also decided that a limited number of Circular Railway services will also be resumed from Wednesday. Revalidation of Monthly Season Tickets (MSTs) will also be done from UTS counters at stations on Monday. 

The other issues to be discussed during Monday’s meeting are ways to tackle law and order issues at stations and thermal scanning of passengers. Though it is likely to be a difficult task, both the state and railways want an orderly movement at stations and people to maintain social distancing while waiting for trains. 

To reduce unnecessary gatherings, illegal stalls will not be allowed to operate at stations. The issue of proper dispersal at Dum Dum Jn to avoid a rush of people towards Metro counters will also be discussed.