В Пуне с Ганешотсава увеличат частоту движения метро до пяти минут

Pune: Pune Metro services are set to become more frequent during peak hours from Ganeshotsav as Maha Metro plans to run trains every five minutes. The current interval between trains is six minutes. The decision comes as Metro ridership continues to rise, with daily passenger numbers reaching nearly 2.80 lakh. Maha Metro has already started trial runs of the five-minute frequency, and the tests have been underway for the past three days. The increased frequency is expected to help manage the rush during the Ganesh festival, when more people use public transport to travel across the city. Maha Metro currently operates services on the Vanaz–Ramwadi and Pimpri Chinchwad–Swargate corridors. To handle the expected increase in passengers, all 33 three-coach rakes in the fleet will be deployed. At present, 30 rakes are in regular service. Read Also Police Clarify Pune Dahi Handi Death: Woman Killed by Falling Iron Rod During Dismantling Under the new arrangement, 17 rakes will operate on the Vanaz–Ramwadi route, while 16 will run between Pimpri Chinchwad and Swargate. This will allow more trips to be operated during busy hours. Maha Metro Managing Director Shravan Hardikar said the rising ridership showed the strong response to Metro services. He said the five-minute frequency was being introduced keeping the growing passenger numbers in mind and that trials were already underway. At present, the two corridors together operate 554 trips every day. With trains running at shorter intervals during peak hours, the number of trips will increase. This is expected to reduce waiting time and ease crowding at stations and inside trains. During non-peak hours, Metro services will continue to operate at a frequency of 10 minutes. The revised schedule is expected to provide relief to passengers during Ganeshotsav, particularly as the city sees a sharp increase in daily travel and public transport use during the festival.