New Delhi, Aug 26 (IANS): Delhi Metro on Wednesday decided to increase the frequency of trains on weekdays during off peak hours (from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) by inducting 20 more trains into service from August 31.

In view of the increased ridership on the day before and on Raksha Bandhan, the Delhi Metro will also run about 210 extra train trips on August 28 and on Raksha Bandhan, which is on August 29.

The average frequency during off peak hours will now be 4 minutes 6 seconds for Red Line (Dilshad Garden to Rithala), 2 minutes 45 seconds for Yellow Line (HUDA City Centre to Jahangirpuri), 2 minutes 47 seconds for Blue Line (Dwarka Sec-21 to Noida City Centre/Vaishali) and 4 minutes 12 seconds for Violet Line (ITO to Badarpur).

"In order to operate 210 additional trips, DMRC will deploy additional staff and officers. Routine maintenance of trains will be deferred. DMRC will also deploy additional personnel at stations to cater to the extra rush of commuters expected on these two days," said Anuj Dayal, DMRC's executive director, corporate communications.

"DMRC will deploy 106 additional shifts of guards/customer facilitation agents at 57 major Metro stations to help and guide commuters on these two days. In addition, extra personnel will also be deployed to handle the increased load on the ticketing system and metro ticketing staff on 93 metro stations will do 146 additional shifts," he said.

In 2014, over 25.5 lakh passengers travelled by metro on the day before Rakhi, whereas over 21.8 lakh travelled on the day of Rakhi inspite of it being a Sunday.