After the Ministry of Home Affairs has allowed the metro rail services to resume in the fourth phase of unlocking, the new set of guidelines has been issued by the Delhi government for the operations on Sunday.
In its guidelines, the use of masks and smart cards has been made mandatory by the government. There will be a strict ban on tokens for the train ride and the passengers in each coach will be limited.
As a safety measure, the air conditioner of the metro trains will also be taken out to allow fresh air, said Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gehlot.
He also said that the trains will not stop at all stations for now and also there will are plans to open stations in phases.
“The token system will be completely shut because it can increase the spread (of coronavirus). Moreover, it won’t be possible to sanitise a token every time. People will use smart cards or other recharge mediums to travel,” NDTV quoted Kailash Gahlot as saying.
“All stations will not be opened. Those in containment zones will remain shut. Other than those, there are more stations which will remain shut, the list for the same will be prepared and people will be informed about it,” he added.
As per DMRC’s prior announcement, the smart cards will be recharged automatically at the automatic fare collection gates (AFC) of the metro stations to avoid queues at the kiosk.
As per the reports, on platform floors, large stickers bearing ‘Ensure Social Distancing’ message with a white circle bordered by a red circle, will be pasted at regular intervals to alert commuters.
Yesterday, the central government had permitted to resume the metro services in a phased manner as part of the fourth phase of unlocking.
DMRC had also acknowledged the decision on Twitter:
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had welcomed the decision of the government by saying, “I am glad that metro has been permitted to start its operations from 7 Sep in a phased manner.”