Even as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is expected to inaugurate Kochi Metro's 1-km-long Thykoodam-Pettah extension at 12.30 p.m. today, the Metro resumed service earlier in the morning, after over five months break following Covid-19 precautions.
This was in keeping with the Centre's permission for resumption of metro services as part of Unlock 4. The trains will operate at 10 minute intervals, as compared to the earlier six minute interval. Passengers are travelling in keeping with social distancing norms. The trains will operate from Pettah terminal station from 2 p.m., KMRL sources said.
All guidelines issued by Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (under which metro-rail systems come) are being adhered to, to prevent Covid spread. They include regulating the ambient temperature within trains to 26 degree celsius and the relative humidity at 70 degrees.
A slew of screening measures too are in place, including thermal scanners. Trains are sanitised after each return trip, while steps have been taken to ensure clean air within coaches, by keeping doors open for longer than usual, at stations and at the terminal station.
