By December end, air-conditioned suburban trains will operate in Chennai!!
Dreaming about travelling in an air-conditioned suburban train in Chennai? The day is not far!!
With the Southern Railways or SR set to take the delivery of the first air-conditioned MEMU train from ICF before December end, the Chennai resident`s dream of travelling (between Chennai Beach and Tambaram section up to Chengalpet) in an air-conditioned suburban train could turn into reality.
According to some sources belonging to SR, Chennai Beach- Tambaram route has been finalised for operating the first air-conditioned MEMU train. It is learnt that based on the fare rationalisation of A/C ordinary services on the suburban sections notified by the Railway Board the fares for Chennai Beach –Tambaram would be present.
Mr. Vipul Singhal, director, RB has issued a circular dated 29th April 2022 that a single journey fare for an ordinary air-conditioned EMU service would be Rs 29 for journeys up to 10km. Point is that for journeys up to 491km to 500km the maximum base fare would be Rs 423. It must be taken into account that for journeys between 11km and 15 km the base fare would be Rs 37 and base fare would be Rs 56 for journeys between 16 and 25 km.
Important piece of information is that the minimum monthly, fortnightly and weekly season ticket prices would be Rs 590, Rs 445 and Rs 290 respectively for journeys up to 10km. The circular also mentioned that GST would be levied on the base fair.
In this situation, when compared to the ticket price in the metro train, the ticket fare charged by yet to be introduced air-conditioned MEMU in Chennai would be higher and this even excluding GST. The minimum base fare in a metro train is Rs 10 whereas in the air-conditioned MEMU it would be Rs 29 up to 10km. In addition, CMRL provides 20percent discount for travel card users.
