Metro Railway is planning to extend the timings of the last trains in either direction by half an hour from Monday, following passenger feedback and increasing rush in the evening, officials said on Wednesday.

“The plan is to run six additional trains (three in each direction) from Monday. The last trains will leave the terminal stations at 8pm,” said an official.

Since Monday, the carrier has been running 116 trains daily, instead of 110 till the week before. The last trains leave the terminal stations at 7.30pm now. Till last week the last trains would leave at 7pm.

The decision to further increase the number of trains and extend the timings is in response to the growing rush in the evening, said Metro sources.

It is also based on the feedback received from passengers at several stations. They requested station staff and RPF personnel for more trains in the evening, the sources said.

“Till around 7pm on Wednesday, around 44,000 e-passes had been booked on the New Garia-Noapara route. Around 17,000 of them were booked for slots between 5pm and 8pm,” said an official of the agency that has designed the e-pass system.

Many Metro passengers are said to have asked for extending the services beyond 8pm, an official said. “The station staff, including RPF personnel, are facing many such requests every day,” he said.

As the city is opening up, more and more people are out till night. In the run-up to the festive season, roads are no longer deserted at 9pm.

“Under such a situation, 7.30pm (when the last trains leave the terminal station) is too early. We want to go as close to the earlier timings as possible. But since local trains are still suspended, many of our staff are still having problems in transportation,” the official said.
Before the pandemic, the last trains left the terminal stations at 9.55pm.

The evening trains are full on most days and passengers are having to stand in many compartments.