31 August,2020 07:09 AM IST | Mumbai | Rajendra B Aklekar
Alternate seating stickers on a Mumbai Metro One train, as tweeted in May
The Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Line One Mumbai Metro team on Sunday said they were waiting for directives from the Maharashtra government, following a statement by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, that the Metro railways will be allowed to operate in a graded manner by the respective state ministries and departments.
In an announcement made on Saturday as part of Unlock 4.0 guidelines, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has granted permission for the Metro rail to resume services from September 7 in a graded manner. "Further, guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) will be issued by officials and will have to be followed strictly by the respective states," it stated.
On Saturday night, the Mumbai Metro team had tweeted stating that they would resume services as per guidelines from relevant authorities.
Maintenance work has been carried out regularly on the Metro One tracks
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Since the lockdown came into effect, the Mumbai Metro team has been working on keeping its trains ready and updated. In fact, in one of their social media posts in May 2020, the team had shared basic details on how they had been working on alternative seating arrangements to ensure safe distance while travelling.
Officials, on Sunday, however, said that a detailed note of further preparations will be issued at a later point when the government directives arrive and a formal announcement of resumption of services is made.
"The Metro technical teams have been on the job and were conducting test runs, and health checks of the entire Metro system like tracks, signalling, trains, communication, including carrying out daily maintenance of the tracks on the main line and depot line to ensure its health and stability. With regular maintenance activities on all our trains, we are fully prepared," a Metro official said.
Over five years after it began operations in June 2014, Metro One (Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar) in 2019 crossed the 60-crore ridership landmark with a daily average ridership exceeding 4.5 lakh.
A commuter wondered how the railways will control the Mumbai Metro crowds as the Metro stations of Ghatkopar and Andheri directly spill crowds into the
suburban stations.
"Will the Mumbai Metro service be for essential services employees or for all passengers? If it is open for everyone, then everyone will travel by local train in Ghatkopar/Andheri. How will the Central and Western Railway control crowds?" a concerned commuter, Shekhar Damle asked. Central Railway officials said that they will co-ordinate with the MMRDA in such a case and develop an SOP.
4.5 lakh
Avg daily riders on Metro One
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