An online petition urging Metro Railway to run trains for one more hour at night has garnered over 1,500 signatures since it was launched about a fortnight back.
Ajay Mittal, who started the petition, has also sought an appointment with the general manager of Kolkata’s Metro Railway to present his case.
“Extending the operating hours of the Kolkata Metro by one hour would have numerous advantages for citizens,” says the petition, uploaded on change.org.
It lists several benefits for an extended service. It says working people would find it easier to return home and women would especially benefit from it. The petition also says that information available online shows that the hours of the Metro service in Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore are longer than Kolkata.
The petition was uploaded on June 26, three weeks after Mittal found out that the last train from Dakshineswar left at 9.28pm.
“This is unimaginable for a city where so many people are out till late hours. I was returning from my sister’s house in Dunlop and went to Baranagar station, but the last train had left by then,” he said.
“There are very few buses available on roads at night. The only option is taking an app cab or a taxi, where there will be multiple refusals and one has to spend a huge amount,” said Mittal, who was returning to Hazra.
Kolkata Metro’s network spans around 47km and there are three lines — north-south corridor between Dakshineswar and New Garia; east-west corridor, which is now operational between Sector V and Sealdah; and the Joka-Esplanade corridor, now operational between Joka and Taratala. The three lines have 40 stations that are now functional.
The north-south corridor (between New Garia and Dakshineswar) is the most used one. It ferried over 6 lakh passengers on weekdays before Covid and officials said the count is approaching the pre-pandemic mark again.
The first and last trains usually leave Dum Dum and New Garia at 6.50am and 9.40pm. The first and last trains leave Dakhsineswar at 7am and 9.28pm.
On the east-west line, the first and last trains leave Sealdah at 6.55am and 9.35pm. From Sector V, the first and last trains leave at 7am and 9.40pm.
The service on the Joka-Taratala corridor ends before 5.30pm.
Delhi Metro, which has the widest Metro network in India — there are 12 lines covering 390km and 286 stations — trains run for longer hours than Kolkata Metro.
“The timings of the first and last trains vary according to the different lines. But broadly, the trains leave the terminal stations from 6am to 11pm,” said Anuj Dayal, spokesperson for Delhi Metro.
Most officials of Kolkata Metro cited “maintenance” as the biggest hurdle to an extension of timings. The “ageing infrastructure” needs more maintenance, they said.
A senior official of Kolkata Metro all but ruled out the possibility of extending the timings any time soon.
“There are several constraints. Maintenance is one and manpower is another. We operate with two rosters now. The rosters include shifts ranging from eight to 12 hours. To run more trains, we need three rosters. That would need more personnel,” he said.
An engineer pointed out that while Kolkata Metro trains draw power from the underground third rail, Metro rakes in most other cities are dependent on overhead electrical equipment for power supply.
“Two extra hours are spent on making the third rail fit for maintenance work. One hour is spent on securing the third rail after the day’s commercial service ends. Another hour is needed to restore the equipment before the day’s service starts. These two hours are extra, something that overhead equipment doesn’t need. They can be attended to immediately after the end of the day’s operation,” he said.
Kausik Mitra, chief public relations officer of Metro Railway, declined comment on “manpower or any other constraints” or the services in other cities.
“Let us get a concrete proposal. We will then take a call. Let the meeting happen first,” he said.
London’s Underground or the Tube has 11 lines. There are different timings for different lines but broadly the last train leaves a terminal station after 11pm and the first starts a little after 5am on two of its very busy lines — Picadilly and Victoria. On some stretches there are all night services on Friday nights/Saturday mornings and Saturday nights/Sunday mornings.
Shreya Nag, a Kolkatan who lives in London, said she uses the Tube widely. “It is a very safe, reliable and faster mode of transport and much more affordable than Uber or private transports,” she said.
In Singapore, where the Metro service is widely used, trains run between 5.30am and 12.30am, the website of Singapore’s mass rapid transit (MRT) mentions.