The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Wednesday stated that an approximate number of 33,300 people travelled in the Yellow, Blue and Pink lines of the Delhi Metro in the morning. "The total ridership on Yellow, Blue and Pink Lines was approx 33,300 between 7 am to 11 am today (Wednesday)," said the DMRC.
Three days after resuming services on the Yellow Line, the Delhi Metro resumed services on its Blue Line and Pink Line from 7 am on Wednesday. The trains are now operating for four hours each during morning and evening.
The services on these lines were suspended 171 days ago due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to curb the spread of the deadly virus in India. It is to be noted that metro services in Delhi-NCR have been closed since March 22.
According to news agency PTI, the Rajiv Chowk metro station, one of the biggest interchange facilities in Delhi-NCR, witnessed a slight increase in the number of commuters. On Wednesday, the interchange facilities began on Blue and Yellow Lines at nine stations.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation made announcements about the "dos and don'ts" the travellers should follow. "If you have a cold, cough or fever, please don't take the metro. Duration of opening and closing of metro doors have been increased for the convenience of commuters," the announcer said.
While nearly 15,500 passengers took Yellow Line and Rapid Metro on September 7 (Monday), the figure stood at nearly 17,600 on September 8 (Tuesday). The DMRC has urged people to use rapid transport only if urgently needed.
As part of the stage-I of graded resumption of metro services, the Delhi Metro resumed operations on its Blue Line i.e, Line-3/4 from Dwarka Sec -21 to Electronic City/Vaishali (65.35 km/58 stations) and Pink Line i.e, Line-7 from Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar (57.58 km & 38 stations).
In addition to above lines, three more lines- Red (Line-1 from Rithala to Shaheed Sthal New Bus Adda Ghaziabad); Green (Line-5 from Kirti Nagar/Inderlok to Brig. Hosihar Singh Bahadurgarh) and Violet (Line-6 from Kashmere Gate to Raja Nahar Singh Ballabhgarh) will resume services from September 10 with the same schedule of 4 hours of passenger service each in the morning and evening under Stage-I plan of resumption of metro services.
On September 11, the Magenta Line (Janakpuri to Botanical) and Grey Line (Dwarka to Najafgarh) will be resumed from 7 am to 1 pm and from 4 pm to 10 pm. On September 12, on the Airport Express Line from New Delhi to Dwarka Sec-21 will also be operational. The services will be available throughout the day from 6 am to 11 pm on all lines from September 12.
Only smart card and cashless transactions will be allowed. "Initially, we will open only one line and operating hours will be 7 am to 11 am and 4 pm hours to 8 pm. Only selected gates at the metro stations will be open for entry. A separate gate will be marked for exit only. Only the use of Smart Card and cashless/online transactions will be allowed," DMRC Chief Mangu Singh had said.
"In phase 1, on September 7, we are planning to start Yellow Line from Samaypur Badli to Huda City Centre. In phase 2, on September 9 we will start three more lines, Blue Line, Pink Line and Gurgaon Line. In phase 3, on September 10, after observing the operation and its impact, we will introduce Red Line (Ghaziabad to Rithala), the Bahadurgarh line, and the Faridabad line," he had added.
The Home Ministry, in its Unlock 4 guidelines, gave nod to the resumption of metro services from September 7 in a graded manner. The guidelines gave more relaxations in the restrictions enforced to contain the spread of COVID-19. The metro services were suspended in March due to COVID-19.
Thus, the entire Metro network will be made operational for passenger services throughout the day from September 12 onwards as it was before March 22 with all social distancing norms and guidelines to be followed by the passengers during the travel due to ongoing pandemic.
