As metro train services gears up for resuming its services today (September 7) in a graded manner after a gap of more than five months corona induced shutdown, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) introduced a new travel protocol for commuters.
Metro users have been advised to be aware of the new travel protocol amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. DMRC has also advised commuters to follow the new guidelines on caution as the rail corporation is putting into place a series of measures such as closed token counters, limited entry and exit points, thermal scanners and sanitisers among others to enable commuters to adhere to COVID social distancing protocols. DMRC has advised commuters to account an extra 10 to 15 minutes for their daily commute.
Only asymptomatic people will be allowed to board trains, which will shut stations at containment zones. The passengers have been asked to download Aarogya Setu app on their smartphones and will undergo thermal checks at stations.
Based on central guidelines, the metro authorities of Delhi, Noida, Chennai, Kochi, Bengaluru, Mumbai Line-1, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Maha Metro (Nagpur), Kolkata, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh have prepared their standard operating procedures. Maharashtra will not be resuming metro operation this month.
The metro line will be opened three Stages:
First stage (September 7-10), the Delhi Metro services will operate in two shifts for four hours: 7-11 am and 4-8 pm.
Yellow line Metro services: On September 7, the metro services from Samaypur Badli to Huda City Centre will be resumed.
Blue and Pink line metro services: These will resume from September 9.
Red, Green and Violet line metro services: DMRC will start operations on these lines from September 10.
Stage 2 metro services will start from September 11 where metro will operate for six hours from the earlier four hours i.e. 7 am to 1 pm and 6 pm to 11 pm.
Stage 3 beginning September 12, the operations will run on all lines from 6 am to 11 pm.
Guidelines For Commuters:
Under the guidelines, the authorities have decided to discourage cash transactions and tokens. The frequency of trains will be regulated to avoid crowding at stations and in trains.
All safety measures are put in place to check the spread of Covid-19 in the Metro premises which requires everyone to follow a new normal of social distancing, face mask and hand sanitisation.
Around 1,000 extra staff have been deployed across the network to assist passengers. The Delhi Metro authorities today advised passengers to earmark extra time for travel as the carrying capacity of each train will be “drastically reduced to around 20 per cent of the pre-lockdown period due to social distancing norms”.
Passengers have also been advised to “talk less” and sit on alternate seats only in the train or stand, maintaining adequate social distancing. ‘Do not sit here’ stickers have been fixed on alternate seats to maintain social distancing inside the train. Only 2-3 persons at a time will be allowed to use Lift depending on the capacity of Lift. Similarly, passengers will be required to stand on alternate steps on escalators to maintain social distancing.
“Try to stagger travel timings for office/home/other works to the extent possible so that the carrying capacity offered with new norms can be reasonably utilised by creating a travel pattern in which people are not rushing to the station in morning or peak hours only. Rather, they are coming equitably at all hours of the operational timings of the Metro services to ‘break the peak’- a requirement of the present times,” the Delhi Metro authorities said in a statement.
The Delhi Metro has also advised people to avoid carrying items that could delay the frisking timings. “Keep only pocket size hand sanitizers, if any, during the travel. Hand sanitizers will not be permitted beyond 30 ml quantity from the safety point of view,” the Metro Rail authorities said in the statement.