After full seating permitted DMRC allows 50 per coach

New Delhi: The Delhi Metro on Sunday announced that after the Delhi Disaster Management Authority's nod to allow 100 per cent passenger seating, 50 passengers will be allowed in each coach — meaning that queues outside metro stations are likely to persist for the time being.

In a statement, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said the Covid guidelines of ensuring social distancing and other Covid norms are binding on it as a result of which, even with these DDMA guidelines, only 50 passengers will be allowed to board each coach at any time — as opposed to 300 at full capacity with standing passengers. Entry to stations will continue to be regulated, the DMRC said.

"As a result, though the queues may slightly reduce, these might still be there outside stations, especially during peak hours owing to the compliance and adherence to the Covid-appropriate behaviour inside metro premises as per the government guidelines," it said.

As and when further relaxations are announced by the authorities, the DMRC will try and ensure that all steps are taken from its end to provide ease of entry and convenient travel to the general public, the officials said.

Significantly, the new guidelines allow 100 per cent seating but no standing in the trains — a difficult rule to enforce. Moreover, the Delhi Metro trains are designed for optimal standing capacity.

The DMRC said it is running maximum trains, performing over 5,100 trips with the highest frequency daily as was available during pre-Covid time.

The DMRC has been running trains with 50 per cent seating capacity since June 7 when the services had resumed after a long hiatus. Crowds of passengers have been reported at various stations since then, but the urban transporter has maintained that it's on account of maintaining the Covid norms.

The DMRC, in a statement, reiterated that despite being permitted to carry restrictions on numbers of passengers, it is still running maximum trains performing over 5,100 trips with highest frequency daily as was available during pre-Covid times, when over 60 lakh passenger journeys were performed daily, contrary to the general belief that the DMRC at present is running its services with reduced trains due to travel restrictions.

The DMRC again appealed to the public to travel by the metro "only when it is absolutely necessary and observe all Covid-related travel protocols in place for their own and everyone else's safety in this fight against the pandemic".

DMRC services were fully suspended from May 10 in view of the Covid-induced lockdown in Delhi — in view of the rising cases amid the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

However, from June 7, it has been running with 50 per cent seating capacity and no provision for standing travel for commuters.

Editor's Note: The print version of this story in the July 26 edition had mistakenly mentioned that the DDMA had given a nod for 100 per cent occupancy in metro trains. The DDMA's nod is for 100 per cent seating capacity. The full seating capacity of a metro coach is 50. The inadvertent error is regretted and has been corrected online.