Metro Rly earned Rs 3.40 cr from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade Metro stretch

Kolkata: In two months since the commencement of commercial services on Howrah Maidan to Esplanade stretch of Green Line 2, Metro Railway has earned Rs 3.40 crore and as expected Howrah Metro station turned out to be the busiest with record footfall of 11.67 lakh in the last two months.

The commercial services on this line started from March 15. From the day of commencement to May 15, the footfall recorded was 24 lakh and the earning was Rs 3.40 crore. The number of passengers in the Howrah Maidan-Esplanade stretch was three lakh more than compared to Salt Lake Sector V to Sealdah section of Green Line 1, which was 21 lakh. In Green Line 1, Metro Railway earned Rs 3.11 crore in the same period.

Meanwhile, the number of passengers recorded in the Blue Line, which connects Dakshineswar to Kavi Subhash was 3.03 crore and the Metro Railway earned Rs 45.83 crore in the mentioned period.

The commercial services of Kavi Subhash to Hemanta Mukhopadhyay section of Orange line had also commenced from March 15.

In the past two months, the Orange line has recorded more than 55,000 passengers with an earning of Rs 11.64 lakh.

With Blue line being the highest in the passenger count and earning, the lowest was Purple line, which connects Joka to Taratala. The passenger footfall there was 27,000 with an earning of Rs 3.98 lakh.

With the commencement of Esplanade to Howrah Maidan section of East-West Metro corridor, a significant pressure of passengers fell on both New and Old Esplanade Metro station as its the interchanging point between two lines, Green and Blue.

Hence to ensure that commuters are not inconvenienced here, Metro authorities had put up signages as well as coloured footprints to help them make their way to the respective stations smoothly.

Three new AFC-PC gates have been commissioned behind the middle ticket counters of the old Esplanade Metro station of Blue Line for the benefit of the Metro users.

These new gates have been enabling commuters of Blue Line and Green Line Corridors to exit smoothly from the paid areas of old and new Esplanade Metro stations’ premises. One, out of these, three Smart Gates is bi-directional.

With the addition of these three new AFC-PC Gates, at present there are 28 such Smart Gates at old Esplanade Metro station. Out of these 28 gates, give gates are QR enabled gates and 23 gates are dedicated for the entry and exit of passengers travelling with tokens and smart cards.