COVID-19: Noida Metro resumes service as over 2,300 passengers ride trains

Over 2,300 passengers on Wednesday took a ride on the Noida-Greater Noida metro which resumed service after a hiatus of over a month due to COVID-19 curbs, officials said.

The passenger services on the Aqua Line that connects Noida and Greater Noida were suspended on May 1 as the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the region.

The resumption of services was announced on Monday, the day Gautam Buddh Nagar district, adjoining Delhi, in western Uttar Pradesh also eased COVID-19 curbs amid a dip in new cases of coronavirus.

"The total ridership on the Noida-Greater Noida Metro stood at 1,992 till 7 pm on Wednesday. By 8 pm, the total ridership rose to 2,349," a Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) official said.

The NMRC had on Monday said keeping in view the night curfew and also to discourage people to move out due to the pandemic, trains will be operated from 7 am to 8 pm on weekdays only i.e. Monday to Friday.

As the weekend curfew is still in practice, train services will not be operated on weekends i.e. Saturday and Sunday, NMRC Managing Director Ritu Maheshwari had said.

There would be one train at every 15 minutes during peak hours (8 am to 11 am and 5 pm to 8 pm) and one train at every 30 minutes during non-peak hours, according to the NMRC.

There will also be "fast trains" that will run on weekdays during peak hours and not stop at Sector 50, 101, 81, 83, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, and148 stations, it had said.

The NMRC's decision to run "fast trains" has met with criticism from several residents of Noida and Greater Noida who have objected to the trains "skipping" some stations.

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