Kolkata: Fewer passengers opted for the ‘special Metro services’ plied on Blue Line on an experimental basis at 11 pm, starting from May 24. Passengers complained that the gap between the usual last service which is at 9:40 pm and the special service was disadvantageous.
The Metro Railway official said: “It was the first day. Hence, the footfall was fairly less. It was on May 24, we had announced the special service. We are expecting the number of passengers to increase in the coming days.” The two services stopped at all stations en-route and one ticket counter at each station remained open to issue tokens and smart cards.
The last Metro service on the Blue Line is at 9:40 pm from Dum Dum and Dakshineswar on weekdays. Around one hour twenty minutes gap between the services was unsatisfactory to the commuters, who stated that if the services were continuously on till 11 pm, it would have been much more convenient.
When asked if the decision to run the special Metro service on both Up and Down directions from Kavi Subhash and Dum Dum stations at 11 pm from Monday to Friday stemmed out of the direction by the Calcutta High Court for Metro authorities to consider extending the timing of Metro services, the Metro official informed that it was not related to the case. “We were getting requests from people for the special service. Hence, we decided to do it on an experimental basis,” the official said. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a Calcutta High Court advocate was heard by the Division Bench of Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya. The PIL stated that in other states with Metro services, the last service is usually at 11 pm. However, in the case of Kolkata Metro, the last time is 9:40 pm, according to the petitioner. “We are conscious of the fact that the decision to fix the timing of the train is vested with rail authorities and the Court does not have the expertise to go into the technical aspects on whether the last Metro train can be operated around 10:45 pm,” the Bench observed. The Bench directed the authorities to consider the request and check the feasibility since a large number of people who work in the city have to travel to their residence which is at a distance.