Metro services in Mumbai – shut for more than six months because of the coronavirus lockdown – will reopen on Monday with the Ghatkopar-Versova Metro One line – which was the only functional line before the nationwide lockdown in March – resuming operations.
SOPs (standard operating protocols) for passengers, who will be subjected to thermal screening on entry to stations, will include social distancing – visuals from inside the coaches show stickers that highlight where you can sit or stand – and the use of face masks at all times – whether in trains or on the platform.
Other SOPs will include limiting passengers on each four-coach train to 300 (against a maximum of 1,500), an emphasis on cashless transactions when purchasing tickets and maintaining a constant temperature (between 25 and 27 degrees Celsius) inside the coaches.
In addition, only 200 trains will be run between 8 am and 8.30 every day; pre-Covid as many as 450 trains were run every day.
“We have allowed only 300 people to travel at one time to take care of social distancing. As crowds increase, things will change. Also, instead of giving tokens, people will get paper tickets so risk of infection is limited. We also have many facilities for online payment and people will be encouraged to use this,” Abhay Kumar Mishra, CEO of Mumbai Metro, said.
