Aqua Line metro trains may skip stations with fewer passengers

Noida: Metro trains on the Aqua Line may soon skip stations where the passenger crowd is thin. According to officials of the Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) said the plan is being considered to make metro availability at crowded stations faster during peak hours, which had been demanded by residents and commuters alike. The plan may be implemented from February 1.

Ritu Maheshwari, NMRC’s managing director, on the occasion of Republic Day, hoisted the national flag at the NMRC’s office in Sector 29. “In order to reduce the travel time on the Aqua Line and to improve efficiency of services, NMRC will soon run its trains by skipping low-ridership stations during peak hours,” Maheshwari said in a press statement.

Sandhya Sharma, deputy general manager, NMRC, said details of the timings and the stations that will be skipped have not been finalised yet. If the new plan comes into effect, commuters will be able to travel between Noida to Greater Noida in 30 minutes. Currently, it takes 45 minutes to reach Noida from Greater Noida and vice versa.

Stations with low ridership include sectors 143, 144, 145, 146, 147 and 148, among others.

This year, Aqua Line saw its highest ridership yet on January 11, with 11,511 passengers, after resuming service post lockdown on September 7, 2020. The average daily ridership on the Aqua Line before the lockdown in March last year was 22,758, while the average daily ridership in December last year stood at 7,915.

In her address to the NMRC employees on Republic Day, Maheshwari said that in the coming years, the NMRC should try to achieve excellence in all areas of metro operations and prove to be a model organisation for other metro companies. She congratulated the NMRC operations team for providing glitch-free services to commuters in the past two years of operations.

The corporation is currently operating the 29.07 kms Aqua Line from Noida’s Sector 51 to the Greater Noida Depot. The line has 21 elevated stations.