The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Wednesday announced that it will resume the operation of the metro services on the Yellow Line from September 7, more than five months after the services were shut due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. The DMRC added that three more lines--Blue, Pink and Gurgaon, will be added in the second phase on September 9.
The operating hours have also been restricted and initially, the metros will run between 7 am to 11 am and 4 pm to 8 pm, added the DMRC Chief Mangu Singh. On September 7, the Yellow Line (from Samyapur Badli to Huda City Centre) will resume. The Rapid Metro will also be opened on September 7 (one major and one minor).
In Phase 2, on September 9, the Blue Line, and Pink Line will be reopened. In Phase 3, on September 10, after observing the operation and its impact, the DMRC chief said that the Red Line (Rithala to Shaheed Sthal), the Green Line (Kirti Nagar/Inderlok to Brig. Hoshiar Singh), and the Violet Line (Kashmere Gate to Raja Nahar Singh) will be re-opened.
On September 11, the Magenta Line (Janakpuri to Botanical) and Grey Line (Dwarka to Najafgarh) will be resumed from 7 am to 1 pm and from 4 pm to 10 pm. On September 12, on the Airport Express Line from New Delhi to Dwarka Sec-21 will also be operational. The services will be available throughout the day from 6 am to 11 pm on all lines from September 12.
The announcements were made by Singh in presence of Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri. He said that there will be graded resumption of metro services line-wise with specific timings in three stages. Only smart card and cashless transactions will be allowed.
"Initially, we will open only one line and operating hours will be 7 am to 11 am and 4 pm hours to 8 pm. Only selected gates at the metro stations will be open for entry. A separate gate will be marked for exit only. Only the use of Smart Card and cashless/online transactions will be allowed," Singh said.
"In phase 1, on September 7, we are planning to start Yellow Line from Samaypur Badli to Huda City Centre. In phase 2, on September 9 we will start three more lines, Blue Line, Pink Line and Gurgaon Line. In phase 3, on September 10, after observing the operation and its impact, we will introduce Red Line (Ghaziabad to Rithala), the Bahadurgarh line, and the Faridabad line," he added.
Puri said that the opening up of metro rail services in a graded and calibrated manner will need to be reviewed. "If we find that resumption of operations is not resulting in social distancing, then, we might have no option but to review these arrangements," he said.
The Home Ministry, in its Unlock 4 guidelines, gave nod to the resumption of metro services from September 7 in a graded manner. The guidelines gave more relaxations in the restrictions enforced to contain the spread of COVID-19. The metro services were suspended in March due to COVID-19.