Timings of Kolkata Metro night service to change from June 24

THE timing of the Kolkata Metro Railway's special night service along the north-south circuit will advance by 20 minutes beginning on Monday, June 24. Authorities predict that many commuters will use the service if the timing is advanced.

Trains would depart from both the Kavi Subhas and Dum Dum metro stations at 10:40 PM instead of 11 PM on an experimental basis from Monday through Friday, according to a PTI report.

The special trains were previously run from both ends five days a week, beginning at 11 PM on May 24. Metro Railway's experimental special service, which operates on the Blue Line until 11 PM, was also mentioned in the announcement.

Kolkata Metro: Night Service not profitable enough

When the service was first introduced, it was anticipated that it would cater to the majority of users, but night service doesn't seem profitable enough. After 11 PM, the average number of commuters between Dum Dum and Kavi Subhash on each train is only 300.

Kolkata Metro Spokesperson Kaushik Mitra claims that the metro railway is losing a lot of money, which makes it impossible for the metro service to continue operating. These two trains bring in a meagre ₹6000 per month, but they cost approximately ₹2.7 lakh to operate, not including the ₹50,000 in other miscellaneous expenses.

Authorities have observed that passengers were frequently only offered one or two tokens at a time from counters in numerous stations. In addition, he stated that the 11 PM service is too late for customers and expressed the hope that with the new schedules, more commuters would take advantage of the service.

Furthermore, ticket counters will close for the night service beginning on June 24, according to Mitra. Alternatively, passengers can use Automatic Smart Card Recharge Machines (ASCRM) located at stations to buy tickets using the UPI payment option.