2nd day of ops at Sealdah Stn: East-West Metro sees about 27K footfall till 6 pm

KOLKATA: The East-West Metro witnessed a total footfall of 27,020 till 6 pm on the second day of the Sealdah metro station’s commercial operation.

The metro operations began on Thursday. The total number of commuters was 31,037, out of which Sealdah passengers accounted for a total of 12,681. The Sealdah metro station is situated next to the Sealdah station which witnesses thousands of travellers on a daily basis from various districts of the city.

The metro railway had earlier estimated that the opening of the Sealdah metro station will lead to an influx of at least 35,000 commuters on a daily basis in a metro line, which was otherwise running dry.

Earlier, the line was operational between Phoolbagan and Salt Lake Sector-V.

The metro officials had said that the line was witnessing massive loss as the number of footfalls remained lower. Thus the number of trains running was also limited.

But with the opening of Sealdah metro stations, the metro rail has plied 100 trains, 50 eastbound and 30 westbound. These trains will be available at a frequency of 15 minutes. The highest fare has been fixed at Rs 20, while the lowest is Rs 10. The last train from Sealdah is at 9:35 pm while the last train from Sector-V is at 9:40 pm.

The metro officials had anticipated a rise in the total number of footfalls and proving it right, the total number of commuters till 5 PM on Thursday was 18,154, while Sealdah alone witnessed 7,406 commuters.

According to Metro officials, an adequate number of Railway Protection Force (RPF) have been deployed at each station to manage the crowd.