Owing to demand from passengers for more train services at night, Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has announced the extension of train services till 11 pm on weekdays (Monday to Saturday), with effect from today.
In a statement released on Sunday, CMRL announced that trains will now be operated from 5.30 am to 11 pm on weekdays along the Green (between St. Thomas Mount and Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M G Ramachandran Central Metro stations) and Blue (between Airport and Wimco Nagar metro stations) Lines, as opposed to the earlier timings of 5.30 am to 10 pm.
Peak hour services will be from 8 am to 11 am and 5 pm to 8 pm with trains running with a headway of 5 minutes. Trains during non-peak hours will continue to run with a headway of 10 minutes.
On Sundays and public holidays, trains will run from 7 am to 9 pm with a headway of 10 minutes throughout the day without peak hours.
CMRL had resumed operations with 50 per cent occupancy along the Green and Blue Lines in Chennai on June 21 following relaxations in lockdown restrictions in Chennai.
As part of Covid-19 management, CMRL has been sanitising trains and stations regularly. With only 50 per cent occupancy allowed, seats have been marked with ‘X’ to ensure social distancing. Masks and social distancing are mandatory and crowd control staff have been deployed across all stations in the city to ensure the same.
CMRL announced in a statement that fines amounting to Rs 200 are being levied by squads on those not wearing masks while commuting in metro. A total of 176 passengers have been fined till August 21 and Rs. 35,200 has been collected towards the same.