Post pandemic, daily footfall in Metro drops from 7L to 4.7L

Kolkata: Footfall in Kolkata Metro Railway has decreased in the post pandemic situation compared to the figures registered by them before COVID-19 induced pandemic.

"During the pre-pandemic phase, we used to have around seven lakh passengers daily, right now it's been hovering around 4.7 to 4.8 lakh. It has not reached even five lakh,"a senior Metro official said.

Before March 2020, the footfall accounted for up to seven lakh passengers in the North-South axis of the city.

It covers a length of 31.365 kilometers and has 26 stations. The rail line is between Dakhineshwar and Kavi Subhash Metro station, near Garia.

The Metro is running six less services than the pre-pandemic times, which used to be 288 services.

They are running 282 services on weekdays.

On Thursday, the footfall was 4.51 lakh and on Wednesday it was 4.66 lakh. The situation worsens over the weekend. Last Sunday, the total footfall seen was 2.40 lakh.

However, it is believed that opening of the Sealdah Metro station, which is part of the East-West metro corridor, will see a massive increase in commuters. A part of which has started operating between Phoolbagan and Saltlake Sector-V.

Right now, the footfall in that part of the rail is not great either. The official said that it is partially because offices in Sector V are closed due to the pandemic.

"The ideal commuters were working from home," the official said.