KOLKATA: The city’s commuters can’t seem to wait for their lifeline to get back on track. Hundreds of them flocked to the Metro stations on Thursday, 24 hours before Metro was due to resume operations after a 61-day hiatus. This was the second time since March 2020 that services were suspended because of Covid-induced restrictions.
Metro is resuming operations on Friday with 192 services along the north-south line and 48 along the less travelled line 2 or the East-West Metro. Services are from 8am till 9pm, with the last trains leaving the terminal stations at 8pm. There could be more trains from Monday to ensure social distancing on board. On Thursday, maintaining distancing became a challenge on the staff specials.
Metro Railway general manager Manoj Joshi said, “We may add more trains from Monday even as we are starting our regular operations with 192 on Friday. If there are more trains catering to more commuters, crowding will be much less.”
From Monday to Friday, everyone can use the Metro with smart cards. On Saturdays, essential workers can avail the staff specials, with their ID cards and smart cards. The validity of smart cards that had expired between May 15 to July 15, stands extended till August 16.
Officials said crowding won’t be an issue because when the second wave struck, Metro was barely registering 1.5lakh daily ridership, against its pre-pandemic 6.5lakh daily footfall. “Barely 500 were on a train at a point of time,” Metro spokesperson Rupayan Mitra said.
Kalighat resident and eatery executive Biswajit Khastgir tried to make the most of the “last” weekday staff special train on Thursday. Ever since the carrier put brakes on public services from May 16, Metro Railway has been running these essential-worker specials on the north-south corridor. The specials will now be available only on Saturdays.
“These special trains helped people commute all the way from Dakshineswar till Kavi Subhas,” said Aparna Ganguly, Bally resident and nursing home receptionist.
