In an important update for Pune Metro commuters, services will remain closed on March 14 from 6am to 3pm due to the Holi festival. Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation and Cooperation, Murlidhar Mohol, took to X (formerly Twitter) to make the announcement.
The Pune MP wrote, "Pune Metro passenger service will be closed on Friday, March 14, 2025, from 6am to 3pm on account of Dhulwad festival (2nd day of Holi). Pune Metro passenger service will resume at 3pm and will be operational as usual till 11pm."
पुणेकर मेट्रो प्रवाशांसाठी…
— Murlidhar Mohol (@mohol_murlidhar) March 12, 2025
धुळवड सणानिमित्त पुणे मेट्रोची प्रवासी सेवा शुक्रवार, दिनांक १४ मार्च २०२५ रोजी सकाळी ६.०० ते दुपारी ३.०० या वेळेत बंद असणार आहे. तसेच दुपारी ३:०० ते रात्री ११:०० या वेळेत पुणे मेट्रोची प्रवासी सेवा नियमित सुरु असेल.#Pune #Metro@metrorailpune
Pune Metro Service Update
— Pune Metro Rail (@metrorailpune) March 12, 2025
On Friday, 14th March 2025, Pune Metro services will be available from 3:00 PM to 11:00 PM only. Passengers are requested to plan their travel accordingly.
शुक्रवार दिनांक १४ मार्च २०२५ रोजी दुपारी ३:०० ते रात्री ११:०० या वेळेत मेट्रो सेवा उपलब्ध… pic.twitter.com/cTU53byJ0y
Security to be tightened at Pune Metro stations
The Pune Metro is planning to tighten the security measures at all its stations and platforms. This comes after NCP-SP protestors blocked the metro operations for two hours by climbing onto the tracks near the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) station on Sunday.
Speaking to IE, Shravan Hardikar, Managing Director, Maha Metro, said they would make use of Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning. "This would alert us if anyone crosses the yellow line on the metro platform or jumps on the tracks. We will implement this in the next three to six months. However, this will not be enough. We have to find some better way of guarding ourselves from such incidents happening," he added.
Additionally, Maha Metro's safety committee has started a detailed analysis of the incident and is expected to come up with its recommendations in the next few days.
Meanwhile, speaking to The Free Press Journal on Monday, Hemant Sonawane, Executive Director (Public Relations and Administration) of Pune Metro, said they have provided refunds to the affected passengers.
"Pune Metro has processed a refund amounting to ₹5,303 due to the service disruption. A total of 312 tickets have been refunded to affected passengers. Around 4,000 passengers faced difficulties during the two-hour service interruption," Sonawane said.