CHENNAI: Nehru Park on Poonamalle High Road, the place that was once a favourite hangout for fitness enthusiasts in the morning and young couples in the evening is now a brand-new, underground metro railway station. A small doorway leads to the elevator. When it reached concourse level, I could feel the cold air of the AC hit me as soon as the door opened. It was such a relief from the scorching heat outside.
I was lost in the big hallway that could comfortably accommodate over 500 people at a time. There was a glass cabin at the centre with a few employees giving away the entry cards. CMRL staff outside the cabin walked up and down only to guide newbie passengers like me and I saw a lot of kids waiting eagerly to board the brand new metro rail.
“You will love it! Yesterday, there were 100 kids who were excited to board the train,” grinned a CMRL official to the little kids who were waiting for their turn.
Having travelled in the Bangalore Metro before, Angelina came from Velachery to rate her experience on the Chennai Metro. “Bangalore only has overhead metro rails – I wanted to experience the underground one, and here I am,” she said while shooting a long video of the entire hall.
As the queue at the ticket counter shortened, I began to look for a tenner in my wallet. I expected a paper to be handed over to me as a ticket but to my surprise, it was a fancy travel card that could be recharged to a minimum amount of Rs 100. The official let me know that it was valid for a whole year and could be recharged accordingly. There was also a token vending machine beside the counter, from which you could manually print tickets. I felt like I was in an airport when I headed straight to the security check after getting the tickets, with different queues for men and women at the security check; passengers bags were also being scanned.
Deepika and her friend travelled in the metro to experience a Metro ride for the first time. “It was quite an experience. The staff is very friendly and ready to help passengers,” she shared. Meanwhile a loud family of six caught my attention — it was Sharfudin and his family who had come from Thirunelveli. “We came here to attend a wedding but wanted to experience taking the metro as soon as we heard of the inauguration. My kids are having a great time,” he smiled.
However, there were others who were not impressed. Maadhivan, a commuter said, “I was quite impressed with the overhead metro rail but here we have no sights to see from the windows. That’s a huge drawback.” What a silly thing to complain about I thought!
Once I reached the platform, I saw glass shields with many slide doors that open when the train arrives at the platform. With staff whistling periodically to make sure there are no accidents and guiding the passengers, I must say that the 12-minute journey from Nehru Park to Thirumangalam with its share of selfies, photographs and videos was worth it.