Hyderabad: After a long gap of five months, citizens will once again be able to travel in the metro rail come September 7. With the metro restarting operations, the city will take a giant leap forward in terms of returning to normalcy, or at least will have the semblance of it. Passengers will now have to however be screened thermally, among other things, to ensure that the COVID-19 infection does not spread.
Metro rail operations will begin in three phases. From Monday, under phase 1, the Miyapur to LB Nagar line (corridor 1) will become operational from 7:00 am to 12 noon and from 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm. The second phase is scheduled to begin from September 8 from Nagole to Raidurg (corridor 3), with the same timings. Further, the third phase would start from September 9, with all three corridors getting operation from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm.
To ensure that social distancing is also maintained, every alternate the seat will also be marked x inside the train and kept vacant. The metro rail authorities will also sanitize all stations and all human contact areas, including lift buttons, escalator handrails etc. Customer handling points will also be disinfected frequently at stations, preferably every 4 hours, said Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) authorities.
HMR authorities are also encouraging Smart Card and Mobile QR tickets, as cashless/online transactions will be encouraged. “Intake of fresh air in the air-conditioning system will be increased to about 75%. The temperature inside the train should be maintained in the range of 24-30 degree Celsius depending on local climatic conditions,” said a HMR official.
No pay to the employees, green signal for Old city metro rail still uncertain
When asked about the construction of the line to connecting the pending MGBS to Falaknuma, which will essentially bring the metro to the core Old City area, officials refused to comment on the matter. Moreover, sources from HMR also stated that fourth class metro rail employees haven’t been paid full salary from the last 3 months, and that last month’s salary has also not been paid as well.