look news india
During ‘Durga Puja’, the great festival of cultural identity and joy of West Bengal, Kolkata Metro, which is called the lifeline of ‘City of Joy’ Kolkata, has set a new historical record of traffic. The crowd that gathered to worship Goddess Durga and visit the grand pandals expressed great confidence in the underground and elevated metro network to avoid road jams. According to official data released by the Kolkata Metro Railway, the total number of passengers during the main six days of Durga Puja festival this year—that is, from Mahapanchami to Vijayadashami— Over 61.51 lakh (6.15 million) passengers Had a safe and comfortable journey on various metro lines. This figure has touched a new peak, breaking all previous records of festive traffic over the years. An unprecedented rush of passengers was witnessed at the stations during the festival season, especially on the day of Mahasashthi, which set a record in a single day.
The real thrill of Pandal hopping in Durga Puja starts from Panchami and Shashthi. According to the analysis of Metro Administration, the highest crowd in these six days Mahasashthi Recorded on the day of. In that one day on various metro corridors across the city 12,59,322 (12.59 lakh) passengers Travelled. By noon, there was a huge crowd of devotees at the stations connected to major pandals from South Kolkata to North Kolkata. Apart from this, 12.18 lakh people completed their journey by metro on Mahasaptami, 11.95 lakh on Mahashtami and on the day of Mahanavami also more than 10.80 lakh people completed their journey by metro. Despite the end of immersion and celebrations on Dashami, lakhs of people reached the Ganga ghats and places of worship via metro to bid farewell to the mother.
The oldest and busiest corridor among the various corridors of Kolkata Metro i.e. Blue Line (North-South Corridor: Dakshineswar to Kavi Subhash/New Garia) Remained the biggest center of the crowd. The city’s most famous and traditional puja pandals are located around the stations of this corridor—such as Kalighat, Jatin Das Park, Shovabazar Sutanuti, Dumdum and Rabindra Sarovar. More than 45 lakh passengers traveled on the Blue Line alone in these six days.
On the other hand, the country’s first underwater metro passing under the Hooghly river i.e. Green Line (Howrah Maidan to Sector-5/Esplanade) But there was tremendous attraction of passengers. Lakhs of suburban commuters alighting from local and long distance trains at Howrah Railway Station directly took the underwater Green Line and crossed the river to reach the central part of Kolkata in just a few minutes. The Purple Line (Joka to Taratala) and Orange Line (Kavi Subhash to Ruby Mod) also contributed significantly in controlling crowd at the local level.
Kolkata Metro Railways had made extensive preparations this time to facilitate the huge number of passengers and the pandal parikrama that continues throughout the night:
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Night-long services: On the nights of Saptami, Ashtami and Navami, Metro operated trains all night. The services, which used to stop at 9:45 pm on normal days, continued at 10 to 15 minute intervals from 4:00 to 5:00 am.
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Additional rounds: Dozens of additional ‘Puja Special’ trains were run on the tracks every day against the normal timetable, so that passengers did not have to wait for long at the stations.
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Crowd Management and Safety: Additional RPF personnel, women security forces and civil defense personnel were deployed at major and sensitive stations. Separate queues were created for the elderly and children and ‘May I Help You’ booths were activated near the Automated Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs) to ensure no disruption in token and QR code ticketing.
During Durga Puja, the entry of heavy vehicles, buses and taxis on the roads of Kolkata is restricted in many areas and the narrow streets face hour-long traffic jams due to heavy rush of pedestrians. In such a situation, Kolkata Metro not only provided pollution-free and air-conditioned travel, but also safely transported the city residents and lakhs of foreign and domestic tourists from outside to their destinations. By successfully handling 61.51 lakh passengers with timely operation and without any untoward incident, Kolkata Metro has once again proved that it is the strongest infrastructure for the biggest cultural festival of Bengal.