Metro train services resume today amid high security and scrutiny

New Delhi : Metro train services will resume from today in selected cities across the nation, more than five months after their operations were banned due to coronavirus pandemic. A strict screening and social distancing are must for passengers boarding the trains.

Only asymptomatic people will be allowed to get on the train, which will not stop on the stations in the containment zones. The passengers have been asked to download the Aarogya Setu app on their smartphones and will undergo thermal checks at stations.

Based on central guidelines, the metro authorities of Delhi, Noida, Chennai, Kochi, Bengaluru, Mumbai Line-1, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Maha Metro (Nagpur), Kolkata, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh have prepared their standard operating procedures. Maharashtra will not be resuming metro operation this month.

During the operations, passengers will be discouraged to use cash or token for travel in metro trains. The frequency of trains will be regulated to avoid crowding at stations and in trains.

The Delhi metro, which has the most extensive network, starts with its service on the Yellow Line, which runs from Samaypur Badli in North Delhi to the HUDA City Centre in Haryana's Gurugram, which is adjacent to the national capital. More services will be resumed in next one week.

Passengers have also been advised to "talk less" in view of the highly infectious virus.

"Try to stagger travel timings for office/home/other works to the extent possible so that the carrying capacity offered with new norms can be reasonably utilised by creating a travel pattern in which people are not rushing to the station in morning or peak hours only. Rather, they are coming equitably at all hours of the operational timings of the Metro services to 'break the peak'- a requirement of the present times," the Delhi Metro authorities said in a statement.

The Delhi Metro has also advised people to travel light and avoid carrying metallic items for a faster frisking at entry points. "Keep only pocket size hand sanitizers, if any, during the travel. Hand sanitizers will not be permitted beyond 30 ml quantity from the safety point of view," the Metro Rail authorities said in the statement.

Meanwhile, the opening of Metro trains can boost the number of cases in the country which is breaking daily records; over 90,000 new coronavirus cases were registered on Sunday.