See if you can push back last service by 45 minutes: HC to Metro Railway
Times of India | 3 May 2024
KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed the Kolkata Metro Railway authorities to consider extending the timing of the last metro service by 45 minutes, on a par with other metro cities. If Metro Rail does tweak the timing, it will result in the last North-South Metro service from either end starting at 10.30 pm.
A division bench of Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya directed the Metro authorities to study the feasibility of a service extension and reply to the petitioner about the last metro service in Kolkata within four weeks.
An HC lawyer had filed a PIL urging for the extension. The petitioner cited metro timings in other cities, stressing that the alleged discrepancy affects the Right to Equality of Bengal's citizens. Inaction of the authorities concerned in extending operation hours, particularly in the North-South corridor, was against the interests of the public, and safety and convenience of women and students, he had said.
In Chennai, the last metro is at 11 pm; in Bengaluru, it is at 11.05 pm; in Jaipur, the train is at 10.21 pm; the last service in Noida is at 10 pm; in Mumbai it is at 11.25 pm and the Maha Mumbai train is at 11.25 pm. The last service in Ahmedabad is at 11 pm while Lucknow and Kanpur have the last service at 10 pm. The last metro in Hyderabad starts at 11 pm.
Counsel for the Kolkata Metro Railways pointed to one of the appended newspaper clippings, in which a Metro Railways engineer indicated the railways didn't have infrastructure to stretch the last metro timings from 9.40 pm to 10.30 pm. The petitioner said the Metro authorities did extend the last operation on special occasions, like the Durga Puja and IPL matches.
The division bench didn't pass any order about the metro timings. "We are conscious of the fact that fixing of metro service schedule lies with the metro authorities," the bench observed.
The bench, while taking note of the fact that a lot of commuters come to Kolkata for work and return daily, directed the Metro authorities to consider the request by July 10.