Metro reopening live updates: Services resume across India after five months

The home ministry had recently issued guidelines allowing metro services in the country to resume operations in a graded manner, following which the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said it would be done in three stages from September 7-12.

Delhi Metro resumes services in calibrated manner after being closed for 169 days due to Covid-19 pandemic: Official

Use of ‘AarogyaSetu’ app with regular health status update is advisable for commuters with smartphones, says Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

People are advised to travel with minimum luggage & avoid carrying metallic items for a faster frisking at entry points. Keep only pocket-size hand sanitisers, if any, during the travel. Hand sanitisers will not be permitted beyond 30ml quantity: DMRC

The Delhi Metro resumed services with curtailed operation of the Yellow Line on Monday after being closed for over five months due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

People have been advised to travel with minimum luggage and avoid carrying metallic items for faster frisking at entry points. Only pocketsized hand sanitisers less than 30ml would be allowed from the safety point of view.

Smart cards are a must now as tokens won’t be issued. “It is contactless, easily rechargeable online and a discount up to 20% is offered on every travel. Tokens will not be available at the stations for now as they need frequent human interface and pose a risk of infection,” the metro official said.

To prevent overcrowding in trains and at stations, DMRC might start empty trains from terminal stations or short loop some of them to manage crowded zones on a particular section.

DMRC has made an appeal to commuters to avoid travelling unless it is absolutely necessary.

Making an appeal to passengers to cooperate with the personnel on duty and keep listening to announcements, Dayal said, “All staffers have been advised to manage passengers with a positive and caring attitude in these testing times with the initial focus being on sensitising rather than punitive measures. The new norms are to be followed continuously during the entire journey for their own and everyone else’s safety”.

“Apart from regular front line staff at the stations, around 1,000 additional employees have been deployed across the network to assist and guide passengers in the wake of the new norms for travelling, which may take some time to settle in,” the executive director (corporate communications), DMRC, said.