With the Delhi Metro’s Blue and Pink lines resuming operations on Wednesday, around 53,400 people travelled on the metro network till 8 p.m.
As part of the DMRC’s graded resumption of services with staggered timings, currently, only the Yellow, Blue and Pink lines along with the Rapid Metro Gurugram are operational.
The Yellow Line saw a total ridership of 26,900 on Wednesday; Blue Line (22,600); Pink Line (3,900). Noida-Greater Noida Aqua Line saw a ridership of 1,061.
Third phase
From Thursday, the Red Line (Rithala-Shaheed Sthal New Bus Adda), Violet Line (Kashmere Gate-Ballabgarh), and Green Line (Kirti Nagar/Inderlok – Brig. Hoshiar Singh) will become operational. This will be the third phase under the Stage 1 resumption of operations.
Delhi Metro spokesperson Anuj Dayal said, “The DMRC will be running 35 trains on the Red Line, performing around 413 train trips on Thursday. Similarly, 40 trains with around 344 trips will be put into service on the Violet Line. On the Green Line, 20 trains with 268 trips will be put into service.”
“The trips will be subsequently increased as the operational timing of services get extended on September 11 and 12 with the opening of other lines,” Mr. Dayal said.
Increase in timings
Stage 2 and Stage 3 operations will kick in on September 11 and 12 with operational hours increasing to 12 hours daily on Friday and throughout the day from Saturday.
While guidelines state that metro trains will skip stations falling under containment zones, officials said that none of the currently operational ones fall under the same.
Metro services had remained suspended since March 22 following a nationwide lockdown imposed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Operations resumed on September 7 with the Yellow Line and Rapid Metro Gurugram being the first corridors to begin services.
