Limited entry, exit gates once Metro restarts

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has prepared a list of entry and exit points at each station on its 10 corridors across its 389-km network and plans to deploy officials to enforce social distancing rules when it resumes operations.

Metro services in Delhi were shut on March 22 to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). People familiar with the matter had indicated on Monday that the government may allow the resumption of Metro services after over five months in September, when the fourth phase of a plan to restart businesses and activities restricted in view of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) kicks in.

The DMRC has prepared detailed standard operating procedures (SOPS) and is ready to resume operations whenever the Centre decides, a DMRC official said on condition of anonymity. The SOPS, however, are subject to approval by the Union home ministry.

A DMRC s p o kes p e r s o n refused to officially comment on the preparations.

As per the draft SOPS, customised entry/exit will be allowed at each station to control footfall. According to the draft, only 257 out of the total 671 entry/exit gates at 242 stations will be opened for passenger movement. Officials said initially, a maximum of two gates will be open, that too at stations with heavy footfall such as Rajiv Chowk and Kashmere Gate.

Also, Metro officials in the rank of assistant manager, manager, senior supervisor in the operation and management and project department will be assigned ‘special duty’ to manage distancing norms inside stations and enforce Covid rules.

“...They (the nominated officials) shall be fully responsible for station orderliness and shall visit at all places of public interface of their nominated stations at regular intervals,” the SOP document read.

“(They will ensure) social distancing is maintained by staff and commuters at various places of metro station, i.e, at frisking points, at platforms, before entry/exit at AFC gates, in front of customer care/ticketing centres, at lifts and escalators etc,” it added.

The officials in-charge of maintaining social distancing in stations will work in two shifts, which ends at 8.30pm, as per the SOP document. This led to speculation that services could be curtailed.

However, senior DMRC officials said the timings could only be made clear after the home ministry takes a call on the resumption of services.

The officials, who will be deployed in the station premises, will also be tasked with ensuring that every passenger is scanned thermally at the entry, passengers and station staff wear mask at all times and that sanitisers are available at entry points. They will also supervise the cleaning of the station area.

Senior Metro officials also confirmed that as per DMRC’S draft SOPS only three people will be allowed inside a lift, and all those using the elevators will have to maintain a gap of one st ep between themselves.

Apart from ensuring social distancing within the station premises for the safety of passengers and staff, the DMRC has also given out an elaborate plan on the entry and exit of passengers.

The draft SOPS show that at 31 stations on the Red Line (Shaheed Sthal to Rithala) 32 of the total 70 gates will remain open, on the Yellow Line (Samaypur Badli to Huda City Centre), which has 38 stations, 39 out of 116 gates will be kept open for passenger entry.

According to the plan, while stations such as Central Secretariat, AIIMS, Janakpuri West and Shivaji Park will be opened with just a single gate open for access, stations such as Noida City Centre, Mayur Vihar-1 and Kashmere Gate will have two entry/ exit gates, one for each interchange line.