Chennai Metro journey begins; most expensive

Chennai: At a whopping Rs 40 for a 10-km journey, the Chennai Metro, which was inaugurated by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa via video conferencing on Monday, is the most expensive among the cities that have the facility in the country.

In New Delhi, for example, a metro commute for 10 km costs about Rs 18 while it is Rs 23 for the same distance in Bangalore. In Jaipur, which has a 9-km Metro line in the first phase, the price band is Rs 5, Rs 10 and Rs 15.

Chennai Metro - an overhead stretch between Koyambedu and Alandur covering a little more than 10 km - would cover the distance in 19 minutes with seven stations. By road, it will take at least 45 minutes to cover the stretch if the traffic is smooth - and a couple of hours if there is congestion.

Initially, nine blue-coloured trains will run on the route. Each train, with a maximum speed of 80km/hr, will be able to carry nearly 1300 passengers. The minimum and maximum fares are Rs 10 and Rs 40. The first train was steered by A Preeti, a young woman holding an engineering diploma.

"We are proud that nearly 25 to 30 of the working staff - the train operators, station controllers, maintainers of signaling telecom and track - are young engineering graduate women who have been recruited through competitive exam and they have been doing a wonderful job," Systems and Operations Director Narasim Prasad said. The track will be extended from Alandur to Chennai Airport. The extension will constitute phase I of the 45 km project passing 32 stations. According to officials, Phase I consists of two corridors -- Washermenpet to Airport (23.1 km) and Chennai Central to St Thomas Mount (22 km).