A meeting between the state government and Metro officials on the resumption of commercial services is likely in the next two days following a prod from the railway ministry, railway officials said.

The Bengal home secretary had written to the chairman of the railway board, seeking resumption of Metro and suburban train services in the state.

“The board has asked Metro, Eastern and South-Eastern Railway officials to sit with the state government for possible resumption of services,” said a railway official. “The meeting is likely in one or two days.”

Before meeting the Bengal administration, senior officials of Metro Railway on Tuesday held an “internal meeting” to discuss the modalities of possible resumption of services.

A curtailed fleet and timing (a late start and early closure), access for only existing smart card users, the frequency between trains are some of the steps that Metro officials are likely to pitch at the meeting with state officials.

An app for online recharge of smart cards has been in the works.

Sources said 8am-to-8pm service, a 12-minute interval between trains and suspension of services on Sunday were some of the proposals discussed at Tuesday’s meeting.

Indrani Banerjee, the Metro spokesperson, said: “No decision has been taken regarding the train timings or intervals. We plan to do away with tokens for now. Only existing smart card users can avail themselves of Metro services. When we meet the state government officials, the main focus areas would be social distancing and crowd control.”

Metro officials have said more than once that the trains, stations and tunnels were ready for commercial services but crowd control and social distancing were the “real challenges”. The state machinery’s help is the key to meeting the challenges, they have said.

Deploying RPF guards in coaches and seeking police help outside and inside the stations were some of the steps being considered by the authorities.

The carrier used to run 288 trains before the services were stopped on March 23. Over six lakh people used to travel by Metro every day.

“The number of trains in service will be reduced drastically,” said an official.

The Union housing and urban affairs ministry is likely to come up with a set of guidelines for the resumption of Metro services across the country.

The ministry has, in turn, asked for a set of standard operating procedures from all Metros in the country.

Calcutta Metro, which is not a corporation, is still under the railways. But the carrier has sent a list of SOPs to the urban affairs ministry, said an official.

“We are exploring many possibilities before resumption of services. Crowd control and maintaining social distance will take a lot of homework in coordination with the state government,” said Metro general manager Manoj Joshi.