No Western Railway mega block on Sunday, November 8, as Diwali approaches; locals to run as usual

Western Railway has announced a decision that will bring relief to Mumbai's local train commuters. No block will be taken on the railway's suburban section on Sunday, November 8, 2026, and local services will continue as usual.

The railway said the decision was taken so that passengers can travel conveniently and comfortably during the Diwali festival. It also made clear that there will be no maintenance block on Sunday.

Large numbers of people will travel in Mumbai and its suburbs during the festival to celebrate Diwali with family and friends. Officials said the aim of the decision is to spare passengers inconvenience at such a time.

With the scheduled block cancelled, suburban trains will run according to the usual timetable. Blocks are generally taken on Sundays to carry out essential engineering and maintenance work on the tracks and other systems. Officials said that, with no block this time, passengers can plan their journeys without having to consider the difficulties a Sunday block causes.

Separately, Western Railway said in another statement that more than Rs 138 crore in fines was recovered between April and October 2026 from passengers travelling without a ticket, on an irregular ticket, or with unbooked luggage. During this period, ticket checking staff caught 17.93 lakh cases across the network.

According to a statement by Western Railway's Chief Public Relations Officer Vineet Abhishek, a total of Rs 138.05 crore was recovered in seven months. The recovery came from intensive ticket checking drives run on suburban locals, long-distance mail and express trains, passenger trains and holiday special trains.

In October 2026 alone, more than 2.44 lakh passengers were caught travelling without a ticket or on an irregular ticket, and Rs 21.53 crore was recovered from them in fines. The railway said the drive was carried out under the supervision of senior commercial department officials, with the aim of preventing loss of revenue and encouraging passengers to travel on valid tickets.

In the Mumbai suburban division, ticket checking teams detected 6.28 lakh cases of ticketless and irregular travel between April and October 2026. About Rs 36 crore in fines was recovered from this action.

The railway also said it has stepped up special checks to stop passengers holding ordinary tickets from sitting in air-conditioned coaches of Mumbai's AC suburban locals without a valid AC ticket. About 1.13 lakh such cases were found on AC suburban services between April and October 2026, an increase of more than 82 per cent over the same period last year.