Kolkata Metro: Timings for night service along the North-South Circuit will change from June 24

The Kolkata Metro Railway has stated that from Monday, June 24, the timing of the special night service along the north-south circuit will be advanced by 20 minutes. If the timing is advanced, authorities expect a significant number of commuters to use the service.

According to a PTI report, instead of at 11 pm, trains would now depart from Kavi Subhas and Dum Dum Metro stations at 10.40 pm on an experimental basis from Monday to Friday.

The special trains previously operated five days a week from May 24 at 11pm from both ends. The announcement also mentioned Metro Railway’s experimental special service that runs on the Blue Line until 11 p.m.

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The service was launched with the expectation that it would serve the most users, but it seems that the night service is not making enough money. Consequently, the number of commuters traveling in each train between Dum Dum and Kavi Subhash after 11pm averages only 300.

According to Kaushik Mitra, spokesperson of the Kolkata Metro, the metro cannot continue running because the metro is losing a lot of money. The monthly income from these two trains is barely Rs 6,000, but the running costs are around Rs 2.7 lakh, including Rs 50,000 in miscellaneous expenses.

Authorities noticed that at many stations, passengers were only being offered one or two tokens at a time at the counters. He went on to say that the 11pm service is too late for consumers and expressed hope that more commuters would use the service with the new timetables.

Moreover, according to Mitra, the ticket counters for the night service will close from June 24. Instead, travelers can purchase tickets using the UPI payment option using Automatic Smart Card Recharge Machines (ASCRM) installed at stations.