NEW DELHI: Delhi Metro’s Blue Line and Pink Line resumed services on Wednesday after being closed for 171 days due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The opening of the two lines with interchange facilities at nine stations saw a jump in the number of riders on the already open Yellow Line also. The metro recorded total ridership of about 53,400 on Wednesday.
The ridership on Yellow Line almost doubled in the morning hours on day three with 21,900 in the first four hours from an average of about 8,000 in the first two days.
About 9600 passengers travelled in Blue Line and 1800 in Pink in the first half on Wednesday. The total ridership including all three corridors was 33,300 in the morning hours.
In the evening, the Yellow Line saw a ridership of 5,090 while the ridership rose to 13,000 on the Blue Line.
There were 2,100 riders on the Pink Line during the evening operational window.
Metro services have resumed with curtailed operations on all three lines with strict safety and social distancing measures being in place.
Trains are to operate in two batches of four-hour each from 7-11 AM and 4-8 PM in the first stage.
The Yellow Line connects Samaypur Badli and Huda City Centre and Rapid Metro in Gurugram.
The Blue line runs from Dwarka sector 21 to Electronic City in Noida and Vaishali in Ghaziabad. The Pink Line connects Sarai Kale Khan Nizamuddin station to Shiv Vihar station.
The interchange facilities began on Blue and Yellow Lines at nine stations. In the morning, many people were seen standing in long queues at Udyog Bhawan, Rajiv chowk, INA and other interchange stations.
Delhi Metro will start services on three other lines from Thursday.
DMRC will be running 35 trains on Red Line (Rithala-Shaheed Sthal New Bus Adda) with 413 train trips, 40 trains with about 344 trips on the Violet Line (Kashmere Gate-Raja Nahar Singh) and 20 trains with 268 train trips on the Green Line (Kirtinagar/Inderlok- Brigadier Hoshiar Singh). “The trips, will be subsequently increased as the operational timing of services get extended,” said Anuj Dayal, Executive Director, Corporate Communications, DMRC.
Not revenue, aim is to connect, says DMCR chief
The resumption of Delhi Metro was done “not on consideration of generating revenue” but to connect people and contribute to the revival of the economy, DMRC chief Mangu Singh said. “The aim was to allow people to move and go to the work while adhering to safety guidelines.”