The number of commuters on suburban trains of the Western Railway (WR) reduced by over 8 lakh on March 17, the day Chief Minister appealed to people to avoid non-essential travel in view of the coronavirus outbreak in the state.

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According to Western Railway, on March 17, 32.60 lakh passengers travelled on their suburban trains as against 40.75 lakh on March 16 (down 8.15 lakhs). "The number of commuters reduced by around 25 per cent," said the chief spokesperson of WR.

On Tuesday, the Chief Minister had appealed to people to avoid train and bus journey if not necessary, while clarifying the government does not want to stop suburban services to contain the coronavirus spread. Suburban services are the lifeline of Mumbai and daily over 80 lakh commuters commute by them. Though exact passenger count on Central Railway's suburban trains was not available, a senior official said the number of passengers could have reduced by 7-9 lakh on March 17. The Maharashtra government on March 18 decided to reduce public transport commuter count by at least 50 per cent as part of measures to avoid crowding and enforce social distancing.