Commuters using a special ‘last train’ along the busiest North-South Metro Railway Corridor (or Blue Line) in Kolkata will have to pay a fine of Rs 10 from Wednesday (January 1, 2025). This was announced by the Metro Railway, Kolkata, on Tuesday.
The extra charge is due to the inefficiency of the trains which is not enough to make up even a fraction of the cost involved in running another pair of trains.
The Metro has been reluctant to run night services beyond the 9:40 pm cutoff (from anywhere), save on special days like Pujas or daytime cricket matches at Eden Gardens. In May 2024, after hearing a Public Demands Case, the Calcutta High Court asked the Metro authorities to consider running the night service. Metro responded accordingly and from 24th May, paired trains started at 11pm from New Garia and Dum Dum.
“There was absolutely no patronage. On most days, there would be less than 10 passengers in each train. From June 24, we rescheduled the last trains to 10:40 p.m. Still, there are few passengers. The fare is heavily subsidized by Metro Railway, Kolkata As a result, we are running a huge deficit with a huge amount of work.
After all, Metro Railway has limited sources of revenue as it does not carry goods. Finally, it was decided to charge Rs 10 to people using the last train. This was to start working from December, but it was stopped due to various reasons,” said a Metro Railway official.
One of the reasons was the opposition of various organizations including the Association for the Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), which even threatened to riot if they were charged more money. Metro has argued that it costs more than Rs 70,000 to run the trains and this will add to losses unless there is adequate support.
“Since we are a government organization, we would not bother with the loss, if there were a lot of passengers benefiting from the services, it is not right. It is not right to lose in this way, because of a small number of people. Therefore, it has been decided to charge more money now from January 1, 2025,” the official added.
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