NOIDA: The Noida Metro Rail Corporation has decided to provide power banks to commuters for charging phones while travelling on Aqua Line trains.Officials said commuters could source the power banks from one station and submit them while exiting another. The aim, they said, was to ease commuting and increase ridership.Nisha Wadhwan, a spokesperson for NMRC, said managing director Lokesh M held a meeting with other officials on Friday and discussed ways to improve ridership and revenue.Charging points in trains are limited. At times, people need to charge their devices on the go, be it a laptop, camera or their phones. So, we have decided to float a tender and engage a private company that will provide power banks at Aqua Line stations, she added.A commuter, Wadhwan said, could ask for power banks at the counters while entering a station. A passenger will have to submit it at the NMRC counter while exiting a station. The facility will be free of cost, she added.The power banks will be specially built so that they can be charged only at the stations and trains and not at homes.At the meeting, officials also discussed measures to improve non-farebox revenue by leasing out space outside Sector 142 and Alpha 1 stations.The Noida Authority is also constructing a skywalk to connect Aqua Lines Sector 51 station with Blue Lines Sector 52. The project was initially scheduled for completion in October this year, but got deferred to March 2024 because of a change in its alignment.The skywalk project is crucial to tackle the increasing ridership between the two stations. It was on January 25, 2019, that NMRC started Aqua Line to connect Noidas Sector 51 station with Depot in Greater Noida. Its average daily ridership has increased from 18,500 in 2019 to 55,000 in 2023.We also published the following articles recentlyMetros ridership drops in Oct, footfall at stations under watchThe drop in Metros ridership from over 20 lakh in August and September to 16.7 lakh in October has prompted Maha Metro to focus on stations with low footfall. Despite the decrease, the average daily ridership remains over 50,000. The Maha Metro has no immediate plans to change the frequency of trains, but a review of all stations is underway as the Metro is expected to extend its run till Ramwadi next year. Efforts are also being made to improve the Metros commuter friendliness and last mile connectivity.Air India now provides air-rail connections across 5600 train stations in GermanyAir India has partnered with WorldTicket, the distributor for Deutsche Bahn, to offer intermodal travel options for its guests. The agreement allows Air India passengers to travel on a single ticket that includes train connections to and from various cities in Germany, including those without airports. The partnership also extends to train connections to Amsterdam, Brussels, and Zurich. Passengers will enjoy the same baggage allowance on the rail routes as they do on Air India flights. This partnership is part of Air Indias efforts to expand its network and provide more convenience for its guests.Megablock on Harbour line today, local train commuters may face inconvenienceThe Central Railway will carry out a megablock on the Harbour line today for maintenance works. The block will affect the Kurla - Vashi Up and Down Harbour line from 11.10am to 4.10pm. Certain services will be cancelled during this time, but special suburban trains will run on the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus Mumbai Kurla section. Harbour line services will still be available between Thane-Vashi/Nerul stations from 10am to 6pm. Passengers are advised to bear with the inconvenience caused by the maintenance block.

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