After just the first day of resuming suburban train service with limited locals in Kolkata, officials are mulling to bring forth 100 per cent service to keep in check the coronavirus contamination rate.

On Wednesday, the first day of local train service since the COVID-19-imposed lockdown witnessed the usual crowded trains and platforms with the passengers discarding the physical distancing and other pandemic-related protocols.

Both Howrah and Sealdah stations saw usual hullabaloo during the peak hours with long queues outside ticket counters and scores of busy commuters moving towards their desired destination.

Even though most of the passengers in Sealdah and Howrah were seen wearing masks, social distancing and other protocols were nowhere to be found.

The Railways officials will meet with their West Bengal Government counterparts on Thursday to take a decision about increasing the number of locals to control and disperse the huge crowd that has been seen on Wednesday and Thursday.

As per a report carried by Bengali daily Anandabazar Patrika, the Railways officials are considering to raise the number of trains by the end of this week which can go up to to 100 per cent.

Before the lockdown, more than 1500 locals used to run in Howrah and Sealdah divisions on an average. The number was 615 on Wednesday, triggering the uncontrollable crowds in trains and on platforms.

Passengers, too, raised complaints that the situation was worsened only due to the lesser number of trains. Reportedly, most of the commuters had to wait for more than an hour to catch a local on Wednesday.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had already echoed her support to immediately increase the number of local trains to ensure they don’t become the hotspots for the coronavirus to spread.

“They (Railways) should run more trains so that people don’t get too close with each other. More trains will also mean less crowding,” the chief minister told a news conference at Nabanna on Wednesday.

Railways and State Government will meet on Thursday at the Bhawani Bhavan to review the situation. It remains to be seen if they decide to bring back 100% service at one one go or raise the number of locals step by step.

“We will ask the railway authorities to increase the number of trains, number of compartments in a train and the number of ticket counters so that Covid protocols could be followed properly. We don’t want Covid to spread rapidly following the resumption of suburban train services,” The Telegraph quoted a West Bengal Government official as saying.