2.53 cr passengers chose Metro trains in 2021: CMRL

As many as 2.53 crore passengers travelled in Chennai Metro trains in 2021 despite the suspension of services between May and June and enforcement of social distancing last year. In comparison, more than 9.80 crore passengers used the Metro Rail service since the first line began operations in June 2015.

“Come rain or shine, CMRL has always endeavoured to provide a safe, efficient and reliable travel partner for its loyal commuters. This can very well be seen in the monumental increase in the patronage in 2021, wherein 2.53 crore passengers travelled in the Metro,” a CMRL statement read.

In 2021, the Chennai Metro’s footfalls have doubled when compared to 1.18 crore passengers travelled in 2020.

However, the last year’s footfall was 22 per cent less than in 2019 when it recorded an alltime high of 3.28 crore passengers travelling in the Metro.

The fall in patronage was mainly due to the suspension of services between March 2020 and September 2020 and from May 2021 to June 2021 due to the lockdown.

A senior CMRL official said the Metro was finally able to surpass pre-pandemic patronage in December last year with an average of 1.24 lakh passengers using the train services daily as against 1.16 lakh in February 2020.

“Again the third wave has come in the way. We don’t know what impact it will create and how long to recover from it,” the official said.

Change in schedule

The CMRL on Wednesday announced that it would reschedule its services from Thursday as per the State government’s instruction for effective containment of COVID outbreak.

In a statement, the CMRL stated that the services would be available from 5.30 am to 9 pm instead of 11 pm on all weekdays (Monday to Saturday) with the same peak and non-peak hour timings currently followed (5 minutes and 10 minutes).

The last trip will commence from all terminals at 9 pm and reach the terminal by 10 pm. The revised schedule would be followed until further orders, it noted. On Sunday (January 9), the train services are suspended due to complete lockdown.