Mumbai: Indian Railways discontinued the local train monthly pass booking facility on the UTS (Unreserved Ticketing System) app. Passengers travelling through the Mumbai local have now been advised to use the new RailOne app for booking railway passes.

Passengers whose passes are still valid can continue to show their existing pass on the UTS app to ticket-checking staff. However, the option to book new passes on UTS has been permanently withdrawn. A message on the UTS app now directs users to switch to RailOne for all pass-related bookings. While the pass facility has been removed, booking of unreserved tickets will continue to remain available on the UTS app.

In a move to promote digital payments, the Ministry of Railways has announced a 3 per cent discount on the purchase of unreserved tickets through the RailOne app when payments are made using any digital payment mode. This offer will be valid for six months, from January 14, 2026 to July 14, 2026.

Earlier, users received a 3 per cent cashback only when payments were made through the R-wallet on the RailOne app. With the new decision, passengers will now get a direct discount on payments made via UPI, debit cards, credit cards and other digital payment methods. The Railway Ministry communicated this decision to the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) through a letter dated December 30, directing immediate implementation of the necessary software changes.

The RailOne app is available on both the Play Store and App Store. It offers multiple railway services on a single platform, including monthly pass booking, reserved and unreserved ticket booking, refunds, food ordering, train search and PNR status checks.

Passengers opening the UTS app will see a message prompting them to download the RailOne app.

Click on the provided link to download RailOne.

Enter the required details, including identity information.

Log in to the app and proceed to book the pass.

Alternatively, passengers can also book monthly passes at the Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters located at railway stations.

Mumbai: Traffic movement was briefly disrupted on Mumbai’s Aarey Colony Road in the early hours of Thursday after a BEST bus collided with a truck near Aarey Unit No. 16 (Dindoshi), on the first day of 2026. The incident occurred during the morning hours, leading to slow-moving traffic in the area for nearly an hour. No casualties or injuries were reported.

Videos of the accident surfaced on social media by local news portal, showing the bus and truck blocking a portion of the road as commuters navigated through the congestion. Traffic personnel were deployed to regulate movement and ensure normal flow was restored at the earliest.

The Mumbai Traffic Police confirmed the incident through a public update. “Traffic to Aarey Unit No. 16 (Dindoshi) is moving slowly due to a truck and bus accident,” the police said in a message posted around 9 am. An hour later, authorities announced that the situation had been brought under control, stating, “Now traffic is clear.”

The incident has drawn attention as it comes just days after a fatal BEST bus accident near Bhandup railway station on the night of December 29, 2025. In that incident, a BEST bus rammed into a group of passengers standing in a queue on Bhandup Station Road, killing four people and injuring nine others. CCTV footage of the crash had captured the moments when the bus ploughed into the unsuspecting commuters around 10 pm, a peak hour for office-goers returning home.

The bus involved in the Bhandup tragedy was a 9-metre air-conditioned Olectra electric bus operating on a wet lease for BEST and was plying on Route 606, which connects Nagardas Nagar and Bhandup station. Following the crash, Bhandup police and senior officials rushed to the spot, shifted the injured to nearby hospitals and cordoned off the road to prevent further mishaps.

Confirming the casualties in the earlier incident, Deputy Police Commissioner Hemra Singh Rajput had said, “Four people have died and nine others have been injured in the incident. The bus driver has been taken into custody.”

Mumbai: Scrutiny of nomination papers for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections has led to the rejection of several candidates across parties due to incomplete documents, errors in forms and failure to submit mandatory certificates, election officials have said.

A total of 2,516 nomination papers were filed till December 30, the final day. As the forms were examined on Wednesday, those of candidates from the Congress, BJP, AAP, NCP (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and several independents were rejected.

As most parties finalised seat-sharing arrangements and issued ‘A’ and ‘B’ forms (key documents to file nominations) only in the last two to three days to prevent rebellion, a rush of nominations was witnessed on December 29 and 30.

Officials said delays in finalising candidatures, last-minute documentation, non-submission of caste validity certificates and incomplete details were among the reasons behind the rejections.

Officials said candidates whose nominations were rejected would not be able to contest the elections. They added that the final electoral picture would become clearer after the completion of all statutory procedures related to the scrutiny process.

According to official data, the highest number of rejected nominations belonged to independent candidates, though major parties were also affected.

In the case of NCP (SP), the nomination filed by its candidate Bharat Danani from ward 109 was rejected during scrutiny.

One BSP candidate’s nomination was rejected in F-South ward (wards 200 to 206) as the proposer appeared twice on the form.

The nomination of Congress candidate Manoj Kanojiya from ward 226 could not be accepted as his caste certificate was not submitted, said officials. AAP candidate Navnath Lalge, who had filed his nomination from ward 226, also suffered a setback on the same ground.

Both BJP candidates from wards 211 and 212 saw their nominations rejected due to incomplete documents and other deficiencies, said officials.

In ward 109, six nominations that were rejected belonged to independents. All 12 nominations rejected in G-South wards (193 to 199) were independents, while several others were rejected in T division (wards 103 to 108), L ward (wards 163, 171 and 175) and other areas.

In ward 226, five nominations were filed. While the Congress and AAP candidates were disqualified for not submitting caste certificates, the nominations of BJP candidate Makarand Narvekar and two independents were found valid.

There are 227 electoral wards in BMC. The metropolis has 1,03,44,315 voters, including 55,16,707 male and 48,26,509 female voters. The number of “Other” voters is 1,099, according to officials.

In the last civic polls in 2017, the undivided Shiv Sena had won 84 seats. Of these winners, 46 have now switched to Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. As many as 16 former corporators from other parties, including the Congress, NCP and SP, have also joined the Shiv Sena.

The BJP had won 82 seats last time. In the past eight years, six former corporators from other parties have joined it.

In 2017, the Congress had bagged 31 seats, followed by NCP (9), MNS (7), SP (6), AIMIM (2) and six others.

Elections to 29 municipal corporations, including the BMC, will be held on January 15, and votes will be counted the next day. The nomination process began on December 23 and ended on December 30, while January 2 is the last date for withdrawal of nominations. The final list of candidates will be published on January 3.