The authorities of Kolkata Metro Railway will monitor the ridership in the underground transport, for this week, to take a call on increasing the frequency of trains during peak hours.
The metro after resumption of services from last week has been operating in 12 slots. The time slot between 9am to 11.30am and 4.30pm to 8pm is generally considered as peak hours. Unlike other timings, 15 pairs of trains are being run during these hours at an interval of 10 mins. Since frequency during this time is high, the number of services are also more than the times beyond these hours.
Considering the passenger count which is on the rise with every passing day, the metro railway is examining the possibility of increasing the frequency from 10 to 8 mins during peak hours. However, before taking any decision, the authorities want to monitor the situation on the ground for this week. “Because of the Covid situation, our resources are limited. Many of our staff come from suburbs and there are problems in commuting without the availability of local train services. This apart, there are additional requirements of sanitisation at the terminals for which a few minutes’ time is required,” claimed a senior official of metro railway. “We will closely monitor the ridership for this week which is still lesser than the total number that can be carried per day” the official added.
The metro today witnessed highest number of e-pass bookings that touched 68,000 mark till 5.45pm. The metro authorities have increased the capping on the total number of slot bookings from 20 percent to 30 percent to accommodate more passengers. The decision was taken considering rise in passenger count and to allow those commuters who are unable to avail metro services due to fully occupied slots as a result of false or extra bookings