Kolkata: Metro Railways to run night-long services during Durga Puj

Kolkata: The Metro Railways in the city will run special night-long services during the Durga Puja days from Saptami to Navami to cope with the expected rush of pandal hoppers.

The Metro Railway will run 224 services each day between 1.40 pm and 4.00 am from September 27 to September 29, a spokesperson for the railway said in Kolkata on Tuesday.

On Vijaya Dashami, which is on September 30, the city's underground railway will run services from 1.40 pm to 10.00 pm, Metro spokesperson Indrani Banerjee said.

The Metro Railway system that traverses from Noapara in the north to Kavi Subhash in the southern outskirts of the metropolis, a distance of 24 km, is already facing a huge rush of revellers who made the most of the last weekend when many well-known puja pandals had been opened to viewers in different parts of the city.

With parking of vehicles posing to be a problem near several puja pandals, many people choose the Metro for easy and faster transit.

"The Metro Railway has decided to put in service only airconditioned rakes as far as possible in order to ensure a comfortable journey for the revellers," Banerjee said.

Extra security personnel have been posted at all stations and special security arrangements have been made at important stations like Kalighat, Dum Dum, Shyambazar, Jatin Das Park and Rabindra Sarobar.

In order to ensure fast movement of passengers at entry and exit points, the Metro authorities have decided to dispense paper tickets to passengers instead of tokens.

"This step has been taken in view of many passengers during this period being first time travellers, may find it difficult to use tokens, thus leading to long queues at entry and exit points," Banerjee said.

Metro general manager Vishwesh Chaubey visited Dum Dum and Kalighat stations yesterday and reviewed arrangements for the Puja services.