Hyderabad: 31 K travel on Metro on day 3

Hyderabad: The third day of the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) services saw a total of 31,000 passengers travelling on the three corridors. Rama Devi, an Andhra Bank employee who boarded the train at Parade Grounds at 9.19 am, said, "There were a handful of passengers but it felt so good as I can just reach my bank in Koti without going through the usual hassles of traffic and air pollution. In all, 680 train trips were made and ferried over 30 K passengers.

On the first day, there were 19,000 passengers when Corridor 1 was opened after a long gap of five months.

On the second day, 26,000 passengers made use of the service. A senior official said, "We hope that the footfalls would gradually increase over the days but we too do not want overcrowding."

The officials are making sure that people wear masks and follow the sanitisation procedure before boarding the trains. P C Yadav, a wholesale grain dealer, said, "I am satisfied by the service. The authorities are ensuring social distancing and the stations are spic and span. The onus is also on the passengers to follow all Covid protocols." Rihana Khan, a law student, said, "My parents dropped me at the Mettuguda station only after my father travelled on the train and was satisfied on the first day."