A public interest litigation petition filed in the Madras High Court recently sought a direction to the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) to fix the minimum ticket fare at ₹5 per person and follow the same pricing as suburban electric trains operated by the Southern Railway.
R. Viswanathan alias ‘MGR’ Viswanathan, 61, of Gopalapuram, filed the petition. He also sought a direction to the Centre to take over the Metro Rail services in the city through the Indian Railways and operate it with the assistance of the Southern Railway.
According to the petitioner, the CMRL, a joint venture between the Centre and the State government with equal equity holding, had been operating the Metro Rail in the city with underground and elevated stations using standard gauge. The trains were operated between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. every 10-20 minutes. The Metro Rail was introduced in addition to the MRTS, an elevated rail track connecting Beach and Velachery stations, operated by the Southern Railway. The ticket fares in MRTS as well as the suburban trains had been fixed at a reasonable rate, as compared to Metro Rail, he claimed.
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‘Against society’
Mr. Viswanathan pointed out that the fare from Chennai Central to Tirusulam (near the airport) covering a distance of 18 km in the suburban trains was only ₹5 per person as against ₹60 in Metro Rail. Such exorbitant collection of fares was not in the interest of society, he said.
Mr. Viswanathan claimed to have given a representation to the Centre as well as the State government on May 1 to reduce the fares, but they had not acted upon it.
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