In view of rising COVID cases in Maharashtra and especially in Mumbai city, the Central Railway has increased its local services to maintain sufficient distance between commuters while travelling. The Central Railway in a release issued in Mumbai today said, it's adding 68 more services to its existing 355 in a day to enable the people, who have been identified by the State Government as essential staff, to travel to their work place safely.<br />'' <br />''AIR correspondent reports, since the time when Mumbai locals resumed their service in the month of June last, very select people who are identified by the State Government as essential service staff have been allowed to travel in the train.<br />'' <br />''However, the directives for identifying essential service provider staff have been eased from time to time with the number of the people eligible to travel in the local trains increasing. In view of the increasing commuters and the threat of rising cases of Corona pandemic, the Railways have increased their daily services so that the prescribed norm for maintaining the social distance is maintained while travelling.<br />'' <br />''Recently the Western Railway had also increased its daily local services from 350 to 500 for the same reason. The State Government has issued strict directives to be followed while travelling which includes wearing masks and maintaining sufficient social distance. The State Government has also issued strict notice that nobody else is allowed to travel in local trains except essential categories staff as notified by the government authorities.<br />