Mamata’s appeal to Kolkata Metro Rail to resume service from July 1

“I do request the Metro Rail authorities to sincerely look into the possibility of resuming the Metro rail services from  July 1 with only limited number of passengers in every train as per their seating capacity,”  the Chief said here this afternoon at Nabanna, through a video conference.

But at the same time she said the Metro Railway, in case of their positive response, must ensure “necessary social distancing would be maintained among passengers in every train.”

She also suggested that each train should carry only as many passengers as per their seating capacity only, and the Metro Rail should also issue tickets accordingly so that their would be no rush of passengers before the departure of any train on any working day or even on holidays.

Referring to the untold misery being faced by large number of office-goers and other people in the city since the introduction of unlock 01 from June 1 in absence of adequate public transport on roads, the Chief minister said since buses, minibuses, app cabs and taxies were allowed to ply, there was no harm in running the city’s pride Metro Railway service too by maintaining the necessary social distancing and other heath protocols like regular sanitization of coaches and having the facility of hand sanitizers at every station.

Though there is no immediate response from the Metro Railway authorities to the appeal of the Chief minister, the Railway Board’s yesterday’s decision to stop resumption of any local or Metro rail service till August 12 might cause some delay in the resumption of service after nearly three months.

 However, the Metro Rail authorities have already conducted the necessary trial runs and completed all other formalities to run the train services at short notices after getting the green signal from the Railway Board or the Railway ministry.