Kolkata metro sets daily target of 1 lakh passengers after services resume

KOLKATA: Nearly 1 lakh people may commute by Metro daily, even in its graded form of service, after the resumption of services from September 14. Earlier, it was thought that 50,000 passengers would be able to travel by the city’s lifeline daily.
Metro Railway is gearing up to resume operations from September 14, with a special service for NEET examinees the day before. Only the north-south section will be operational now. East-West Metro services continue to remain suspended.


“Not everyone will travel between Kavi Subhas and Noapara. As some disembark, some others will board the trains. So, 1,000 people may board a train,” said the official.
The timetable for Metro operations is also being finalized. The Metro’s 12-hour service is being split in four slots. The first slot is from 8am to 9am when five pairs of trains will ply at an interval of 12 minutes. During the second slot from 9am to 11.30am or the peak hour, fifteen pairs of trains will ply at an interval of 10 minutes. The third slot is from 11.30am to 4.30pm when 20 pairs of trains should run at an interval of 15 minutes. Finally, the fourth slot is between 4.30pm and 8pm when 15 pairs of trains will run. However, the interval for this final slot has not been finalized. An official said, “There is confusion over the last slot. Metro Railway is yet to tell us if the last train leaves the station around 8pm or 7pm.” In all, 55 pairs of trains will run during 12 hours, taking the total number of trains to 110. Metro authorities are planning to run only a third of its total fleet of 288 trains.
The projected ridership needs to develop the link, from which e-passes for boarding a Metro will be generated. TOI on Monday reported that Sanjoy Chatterjee, director of Ideation Technology, a technology partner with the state transport department, is working on this system. State officials said during peak hours, more passes will be issued to ensure optimum occupancy at the stations like Dum Dum, where 2.3 lakh people board between 9am and 10am, and less from Park Street, where 4,000 board during this time. More than two gates will be opened at Dum Dum, Esplanade and Mahanayak Uttam Kumar because of more commuters at these stations.