Steered by a Young Woman, Chennai’s first Metro starts its Journey

A. Preethi, a 28-year-old engineering diploma holder, started Chennai’s first metro journey as people watched in excitement. The metro can carry 1,276 passengers at a time and has a minimum fare of Rs. 10. 

A. Preethi, a 28-year-old woman, drove Chennai’s first Metro train on Monday after it was flagged off from Alandur station by Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa. The train was flagged off via video conferencing from the State Secretariat in Chennai.

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The first train left from Alandur to Koyambedu at 12:15 pm and was driven by Preethi, a Diploma holder in Engineering from Government Dharmambal Polytechnic College in Chennai, for a stretch of 10 kms.

Preethi’s father told PTI that she had always dreamt of becoming a loco pilot and finally she was living her dream.

Preethi had her eyes on the metro project ever since it took shape. She quit her first job and applied for one in Chennai Metro rail and she was the first woman to get selected. Three more women joined as pilots after her.

After getting a year-and-half long training in Chennai and Delhi, Preethi finally took the steering of Chennai’s first Metro in her hands, and it was surely a proud moment for her.

As she was ready for her first journey as a loco pilot, Alandur Metro station, which is the biggest in Chennai, was full of enthusiastic people posting photos and eagerly waiting to get on the metro ride.

The metro will run every 10 minutes from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. And, like other metro stations in the country, passengers can get their metro cards in case they are frequent travelers. The current stretch is a part of phase one which will cover a distance of 45 kms and, when completed, will have 32 stations.

Each train can carry up to 1,276 passengers. The minimum fare on the train is Rs. 10 and the maximum fare is Rs. 40. A total of nine trains have been introduced so far.

Here’s a video of the first ride –

#ChennaiMetro The day I was eagerly waiting for – soaring > 100 feet above the Cloverleaf Kathipara flyover! pic.twitter.com/lxBkiHORWb

— Srini Swaminathan (@srini091) June 29, 2015

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All pics: Twitter

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