After PM’s public transport push, call for Nagpur Metro’s longer hours grows Nagpur: The operating hours of Nagpur Metro have come under renewed focus after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent appeal for greater use of public transport, reigniting a long-standing local demand to extend services beyond the current 6am to 10pm schedule. Commuters, including industrial workers, night-shift employees, office-goers, and late-evening passengers, have long sought longer Metro hours as ridership rises and reliance on public transport grows. Alongside timing constraints, many argue poor last-mile connectivity remains a major barrier to wider Metro use. The 2013 detailed project report for Nagpur Metro originally proposed 19 hours of daily operations, from 5am to midnight, with no services between midnight and 5am to allow maintenance of infrastructure and rolling stock. However, the current schedule has not met the needs of thousands of workers in the Hingna and Butibori industrial belts, where late-night transport options are limited and costly. Industrial bodies have emphasized that even a one-hour extension of Metro timings would provide significant relief, though they stress that feeder connectivity is equally critical. P Mohan, president of the MIDC Industries Association, highlighted the need for dedicated buses or shuttle services to connect Metro stations with factories in Hingna MIDC. Similarly, Ruchir Kumar Gupta, a senior functionary of the Butibori MIDC Association, noted that extending operating hours until midnight or 12:30am would support employees working across multiple shifts. Many industries operate three shifts, with the last day shift ending around 11pm and the midnight shift beginning shortly after, making extended Metro services essential for both outgoing and incoming workers.#prime_minister_narendra_modi #maha_metro #hingna_midc #nagpur_metro #butibori_midc
