Marginal rise in ridership as Pink and Blue lines set to resume today
new delhi: On the second day since resuming operations after a hiatus of 169 days owing to Covid-induced lockdown, the Delhi Metro on Tuesday recorded a ridership of around 17,600, officials here said.
In effect, this is an increase of more than 2,000 from the passenger footfall seen on Monday where around 15,500 passengers boarded the rapid transit system.
Under the graded resumption of services, the 48.8 kms Yellow Line, connecting Samaypur Badli in Delhi to HUDA City Centre in Gurugram and the Rapid Metro which acts as its feeder link, were thrown open to the public from Monday onwards with relevant safety measures.
Meanwhile, DMRC officials pegged the number of smartcards sold on Tuesday at about 1,200, an increase of 85 from around 1,115 smartcards purchased on Monday.
On the security front, officials said the second day went by without any difficulties involving passengers.
Jitendra Rana, DIG (CISF) said that on Tuesday everything went smoothly. "All well, there were no issues and passengers showed good cooperation," he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Metro) Jitendra Mani said that they have not issued any challans on Tuesday and people are complying with the safety guidelines. Earlier in the day, DCP in a twitter post said, "Metro police Delhi is ready to welcome you, help you and assist you in your safe and secure metro journey with following the COVID Safety Instructions."
The 39.36 kms Pink Line and 56.61 kms Blue Line connecting Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar and Dwarka Sector 21 to Electronic City/ Vaishali respectively will commence operations tomorrow onwards between 7 AM to 11 AM and 4 PM to 8 PM as part of the staggered reopening, DMRC said in a press note.
The reopening of these two lines will allow the availability of nine out of the 28 interchangeable stations such as Rajouri Garden (Blue Line & Pink Like), INA Delhi Haat (Yellow & Pink Line), Mayur Vihar Phase – I (Blue Line & Pink Line), Karkarduma (Blue Line & Pink Line), Rajiv Chowk (Blue Line & Yellow Line), Yamuna Bank (Blue Line 3 & 4), Anand Vihar ISBT (Blue Line & Pink Line), Azadpur (Pink Line & Yellow Line) and Sikanderpur (Yellow Line & Rapid Metro).
"DMRC will be running 66 trains on the Blue Line, performing around 478 train trips during morning and evening hours on the 9th & 10th. Similarly, 27 trains with approximately 228 trips from Majlis Park to Mayur Vihar Pocket-1 and 13 trains with around 291 trips from Trilok Puri-Sanjay Lake to Shiv Vihar sections of Pink Line will be put into service on these two days. The trips will be subsequently increased as the operational timing of services gets extended from the 11th & 12th with the opening of other Lines in a graded manner", Anuj Dayal, Executive Director, Corporate Communications, DMRC, said.
From September 10 onwards, the 34.4 kms Red Line, connecting Rithala to Shahid Sthal, 29.64 km Green Line, connecting Kirti Nagar/Inderlok to Brig Hoshiar Singh and 43.28 km Violet Line connecting Kashmere Gate to Raja Nahar Singh will reopen its doors to commuters after more than five months since its closure.
