Metro authorities announced that only commuters with exisiting Metro smart cards will be allowed to board the metro once the services resume while no new cards will be issued.
The meeting between state government and the Metro Railway, will be held tomorrow at Nabanna, at 11.30 am where the state chief secretary will be present.
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The decision comes following a letter from ER to the state government, proposing to convene the meeting for discussing matters related to resumption of sub-urban trains and metros.
Notably, the Kolkata Metro Railway is considering resuming services from the third week of September.
According to sources, the tentative date could be 14 September because of the lockdown on 11 and 12 September while 13 is a Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has announced the SOP guidelines for metro operations.
As part of the SOP, the metro authorities have decided to allow only commuters with existing metro cards. “Metro Railway Kolkata will not issue any new smart card for the passengers,” informed an official. Commuters are being encouraged to recharge cards online for which a mobile app has been launched. However, the app developed technical glitches.
The Kolkata Metro is also planning to keep one counter at the station open for those who will be able to recharge online.
The SOP guidelines made wearing masks, mandatory for all passengers and staff.
Metro Rail corporations have been authorised to make arrangements for supply of masks on payment basis to the persons arriving without one. The ministry has recommended to advise the passengers to travel with minimum luggage and avoid carrying metallic items for easy and quick scanning.
