NMRC to restart Aqua Line Metro from Monday

The Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) on Wednesday said it will restart operations on its Aqua Line Metro from September 7. Officials of the corporation said the NMRC is making all necessary preparations at all of its stations and on trains as well, so as to ensure that all passengers follow social distancing norms.

Ritu Maheshwari,managing director of the NMRC, said the services on the Aqua Line will commence from Monday. “We have decided that initially, the trains will run with truncated timings, that its from 7am to 11am in the morning and from 5pm to 9pm in the evening with a train frequency of 15 minutes from Mondays to Saturdays,” said Maheshwari, who is also the chief executive officer of the Noida authority.

On Sundays, however, the timings will be slightly different. The services will start from 8am to 11am and from 5pm to 9pm. The trains will stop at all stations at present, however, in the future, stations falling in containment zones may be closed.

Sandhya Sharma, deputy general manager, NMRC said security personnel will be deployed to check temperature of commuters before they board the metro trains.

“The commuters need to wear masks. Only those passengers will be allowed who wear face masks. Every passenger will be screened by thermal sensors. Passengers entering the NMRC’s premises will have to apply hand sanitizers after screening. To ensure adequate social distance, markings for the passengers to stand in have been made at a spacing of 1 metre distancing at frisking zones, ticket counters and platforms,” she said.

Sharma said that passengers shall maintain adequate social distance inside the train too. “For this purpose, suitable markings have been made inside the coaches as well,” she added.

NMRC staff routinely conduct cleaning and sanitization exercise of station areas and the trains.

NMRC runs the 29.7-km Aqua Line which connects Noida Sector 51 to Greater Noida’s Depot Station.