The pandemic brought halt to the normal livelihood of every person, but of the most notable effect of the Covid crisis was on the transportation and the movement of daily commuters.
The normal functioning of Delhi Metro trains was seized realizing the grave seriousness of the situation from March 22 with the first phase of lockdown.
Now nearly after six months of slumber, the Delhi Metro operations are ready to commence from September 7 under the Unlock 4 guidelines. On Saturday, the Centre issued a notification with guidelines allowing metro services to resume functions in a graded manner.
The guidelines are formulated to strictly minimize the potential of risks and several precautionary steps are mentioned which will prove clinical.
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) issued new guidelines which listed several restrictions.
Delhi Metro Guidelines:
- To ensure contactless and cashless travel in metro, no tokens will be issued. Only smart cards will be used. The smart cards can be recharged through digital payments methods.
- Wearing masks will be mandatory inside the stations and coaches.
- To maintain social distancing in the metro coaches, the commuters will be allowed to sit on alternate seats. DMRC has put posters to mark seats where commuters can’t sit.
- Only 3 people will be allowed at one time in a lift and commuters will have to maintain a one step gap on escalators.
- The stoppage time of trains on metro stations will increase to ensure social distancing between commuters while boarding/de-boarding trains. The current stoppage time is 10-20 seconds.
- Metros will not stop at containment zones
- The entry/exit points at each station will be limited. Only “specified number of gates” will be operational to manage the crowd at stations.
- Hand sanitisers will be also be installed at required points for the commuters
- Thermal scanners will be used to check temperature. Only those with normal temperature and face masks will be allowed entry.
- Anyone who violates the guidelines will be penalized.
Certainly this news will bring a sense of relief for the daily commuters and DMRC employees, an estimate suggest DMRC has suffered loss of nearly ₹1,500 crore since the closure of services from March 2020. Moreover the authorities decided to reduce the perks and allowances of its employees by 50 percent in August.
This will prove to be a morale booster for all the people involved in the operation and functioning of the services and also a sign that slowly but surely there life is returning to the normal, which obviously a little different now.
