A passenger inside a metro train in Delhi on Monday.

Five months after services were stopped due to Covid-19, Noida Metro opened its doors to commuters on Monday. The 21-station Metro line recorded 200 passengers in the 4-hour morning shift. Presently, the Aqua Line is operating in two shifts — 7 am to 11 am and from 5 pm to 9 pm — between Monday and Saturday. On Sundays, operations start at 8 am.

“Noida Metro Rail Corporation successfully commenced operations on the first day of opening the Aqua Line for the general public at 7 am today,” said Ritu Maheshwari, MD NMRC, in a statement. Officials said the Metro saw a footfall of around 600 people through the day.

Most commuters were surprised by the lack of rush. “Even though I am working from home, I had some work at office today and I was glad that I could use the Metro… I had a nice experience as there was no rush; there were only two people on the entire train. Sanitisation is thorough. I’m now waiting for the Blue Line to be operational which can help in the commute to Delhi,” said Karishma, an MNC executive who was travelling to Sector 124.

Preeti Verma, an NMRC employee, was happy to catch a Metro ride back to her home in Greater Noida: “Several precautions are being taken, it feels safe.”

Precautions at stations include temperature checks and hand sanitisation. In the absence of manual checking, passengers have to remove all metallic objects, including belts, for X-ray scanning.

NMRC is running the trains at an interval of 15 minutes presently and will change this as per the number of passengers in the coming days. It has imposed a fine of Rs 100 for spitting anywhere in the Metro premises and Rs 500 for travelling without a mask.