Just a day after it took the tracks, Chennai Metro shocks its passengers with its whopping charges. Rs 40 for a 10-km journey is what they charge from the commuters. A fare, which is a lot unfair. Don’t you think so?

Chennai Metro was inaugurated by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa via video conferencing on Monday. Now it is now the most expensive among the cities that have the facility in the country.

In cases of New Delhi and Bangalore, the same 10 km metro journey costs about Rs 18 and Rs 23 respectively. The Pink city Jaipur, which consists of a 9-km Metro lane charges Rs 15 at the highest.

Chennai Metro covers seven stations from Koyambedu to Alandur, a distance of more than 10 km in just 19 minutes. The same distance will take at least 45 minutes to reach by road if the traffic is smooth - and a couple of hours if there is a blockage.

In the first leg, nine blue-colored trains will take up the route. Each train, with a maximum speed of 80km/hr, will be able to carry nearly 1300 passengers. The maximum and minimum fares are Rs 40 and Rs 10.

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 told media.

The route will be spread 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).

- Manohar