Find out Pune Metro fares on new routes to be opened by PM Modi on August 1

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new stretch on August 1 during his visit to Pune, where he will also be conferred with the Lokmanya Tilak award. The Metro service will be opened to the public two to three hours after the inauguration.

Director (systems and operations) of the Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited Vinod K Agrawal said commuters will be able to travel from Vanaz to Ruby Hall for Rs 25 and the journey from Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) to Civil Court will cost Rs 20.

“The cost of Metro tickets will range from a minimum of Rs 10 to a maximum of Rs 35. In addition, 30% discount in fares will be given during the weekends to everyone to encourage people to take the Metro instead of taking out their personal vehicles,” said Agarwal.

The official said students will get 30 per cent off on tickets and all travellers can avoid waiting in queues by buying tickets through the Whatsapp ticketing system. Regular commuters can take the benefit of the Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) card, which will have a 10 per cent discount.

With a handling capacity for six lakh passengers and adequate facilities, the Civil Court station will serve as the intersection for the two Metro lines. It is an interconnecting station of the North-South and East-West corridors, said officials. There is a 30-metre deep underground route that connects PCMC to Swargate and Vanaz to Ramwadi.

After two months of extensive trials, the Pune Metro authority has introduced the  Computer-Based Train Control system in the Civil Court station. The Metro will be operating from 7am to 10pm, with a train being made available every 10 minutes during peak hours and in every 15 minutes otherwise.  The frequency of trains will change depending on the ridership response and the demand, said officials.

According to Agarwal, currently there are 18 trains but only 11 trains will operate at  a frequency of 10 minutes.

To resolve the issue of traffic, the Pune Metro has also initiated talks with the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) to run dedicated buses on dedicated routes. A proposal will also be made to match the timing of trains with the timing of buses in future. The trains will stop for 30 seconds at each station.

Due to the underground location, the Civil Court station is equipped with a Tunnel Ventilation System with 18 escalators and eight lifts. Currently, only Vodafone network works in the underground station but soon provisions will be made to start the services of Airtel and Jio.

Speaking about the how most of the equipment used for the Metro project are made in India, Agrawal said, “Escalators were earlier imported from China. But now we have used escalators manufactured by Schindler in Pune. The communication systems, such as the fibre optic switches, have been manufactured by Pune-based Belden company and telephones are from Coral Telecom of Himachal Pradesh.”