Kolkata Metro will resume its commercial services for passengers from Monday, more than five months after its services were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Metro will however allow only those who have smart cards to board the trains after booking an e-pass. Managing the crowd has emerged as a major challenge for the Metro authorities, who decided to have e-passes for real-time management of the crowd.
“Total 110 trains [55 up and 55 down] will run after an interval of 10 minutes in pick up time. Only smart card passengers will be allowed to travel,” a Metro statement said. The services will continue from Monday to Saturday. The East West Metro, which is operating in the Salt Lake area of the city, will also resume services and operate 36 pairs of trains.
During the day, students appearing for the National Entrance cum Eligibility Test (NEET) were allowed to avail the services of Metro Railway along with their parents. Nearly 1,648 passengers availed the Metro services during the day. The highest foot fall of about 300 people was observed at the Dumdum Metro station. Students and their guardians were asked to sanitise their hands and maintain social distancing while availing the Metro Services. The Kolkata Metro operated 74 trains during the day.
Before the outbreak of the pandemic, the Kolkata Metro was carrying nearly five lakh people on a weekday.
