Unlock 4: Delhi Metro to re-start services from Sept 7 in a graded manner

Services may be confined to the national capital and Metro trains may not go to NCR cities

Delhi Metro will resume services from September 7, after the union home ministry announced new  guidelines called Unlock 4 easing restrictions to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

The standard operating procedure for services to start will come from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

“Delhi Metro will be resuming its services from public from September 7, 2020 in a calibrated manner. The SOPs and other details will be issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs,” DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal said in a statement.

It is learnt that the services may be confined to the national capital only and Metro trains may not go to NCR cities. In the initial phase, the government may only allow essential service workers to travel by metro.

Metro services have been suspended since March 22, when the nationwide lockdown was announced and DMRC has so far incurred a revenue loss of over Rs 1500 crore.

 

In order to ensure that only 257 gates of the total 671 gates of Metro, will open, only two gates of stations like Rajiv Chowk, Kashmiri Gate, Central Secretariat, Hauz Khas will be opened for passengers.

To avoid crowding, DMRC will ensure that only a certain number of passengers enter the metro station, therefore only one gate of each metro station and two gates of a large metro station are expected to remain open, once the services resume.

Not more than 50 people will be allowed inside the coach, this is nearly a sixth of the usual amount of passengers travelling in a single coach, on an average day.

In order to put stricter hygiene standards in place hand sanitizers will be installed at the metro stations along with contactless ticket vending counters, mandatory temperature checks will be done at the entrance gates of the metro stations, for which both DMRC and CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) personnel will be deployed.

The frequency of the trains would increase but the overall travel time would go up as the trains stoppage time is expected to double from the current 20 seconds. For some interchange stations the stoppage time is expected to be even higher.