Unlock 4: Will work out final details with Bengal govt, says metro GM

KOLKATA: Metro services in Kolkata may resume in a restricted manner from September 7 after remaining suspended for over five months. The ministry of home affairs (MHA), on Friday issued guidelines for Unlock 4 in which Metro has been allowed to operate from September 7 in a graded manner. There are no instructions for resumption of suburban or regular long-distance rail services though.
“We have gone through the guidelines and will discuss the matter with the ministry of railways. As soon as we receive instructions from the ministry of railways, we will start working on a plan to resume services. If the ministry of housing and urban affairs issues standard operating procedures by then, as has been mentioned in the MHA guidelines, we will also go through them. Finally, we will sit with the West Bengal government to work out the final details,” Metro Railway general manager Manoj Joshi told TOI.

On Friday, state home secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay had written to Railway Board chairman Vinod Kumar, seeking a phased resumption of Metro and suburban railway services. “State government is of the view that Metro and local train services can be resumed in Bengal in a limited manner maintaining the norms of physical distancing and health hygiene protocols,” Bandyopadhyay wrote. He also asked the Railway Board to “work out the modalities and logistics” of resumption of services “in consultation with the state”.
Metro Railway has kept its assets ready to resume commercial services at short notice. It has also been running special services to enable staff to reach stations for maintenance work. When commercial operations resume, it is likely to be only be for existing smart-card holders as handling of tokens may compromise on hygiene. To enable hands-free operations, Metro has also launched online recharging facilities for smart cards.
Explaining why the housing and urban affairs ministry has been asked to prepare SOPs for Metro operations and not the railway ministry, an official in Kolkata said that the urban affairs ministry has a stake in all Metros across the country except the one in Kolkata. The West Bengal government will be happy with this decision by the MHA as Metro Railway is considered the ‘lifeline’ of Kolkata. With offices and businesses opening, people are finding it difficult to commute safely as buses are crowded. Issues such as social distancing will certainly be discussed when Metro and state government officials meet. This meeting is crucial as chief minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier accused the railways of taking a “unilateral decision” to run trains to Bengal from states with higher Covid-19 counts. Even the number of special trains being run by Eastern and South Eastern Railway was brought down after this.
A state proposal to resume phased Metro services from July 1 didn’t get the go ahead from Delhi earlier. Chief secretary Rajiva Sinha had then written to Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla urging for limited Metro services particularly for people engaged in essential services. But the MHA didn’t allow the services in view of the surge in the Covid graph in Bengal.
This time, too, Metro officials worry over resuming services since the underground section is a confined space. Health experts have indicated that large gatherings (even 50-100 people) at close proximity in confined spaces can have disastrous consequences. There is also the issue of crowd management. This will have to be sorted out during the meeting with the state government as manpower will be an issue.
Railway officials in Kolkata heaved a sigh of relief that the guidelines have nothing on resumption of suburban rail services. Crowd management at wayside suburban railway stations remains a bother for them. “We are running some local trains for our staff. There are repeated requests from certain circles, such as bank officials and state government employees to accommodate them in these trains. But we can’t take a decision without clearance from the Railway Board. It will also be impossible to maintain social distancing at wayside suburban stations that are not designed to restrict people from accessing platforms,” a railway official said.