KOLKATA: The opening of East-West Metro services begin not too far away, the Railway Board has cleared the fare chart for the city’s upcoming state of-the-art Line-2.According to the tariff structure approved by Railway Board, a commuter will have to pay Rs 5 for travelling up to 2km. For the next 3km till 5km, the fare will be Rs 10; for 5km-10km Rs 20 and for 10km-16.5km, it will be Rs 30.Even for the existing north-south line, the base fare is Rs 5. But there lies the catch. On the north-south corridor, a commuter can travel up to 5km by paying the base fare of Rs 5. But in East-West Metro, a commuter can’t really make much use of the base fare as he or she will barely be able to travel from one station to another for that amount. As the distance between two East-West stations is 2km or more, to travel to a destination even two stations away, one has to pay Rs 10. Some may even have to pay Rs 10 for travelling from one station to another might. For instance, the distance between Howrah Maidan and Mahakaran stations is 2.9km and that of Esplanade and Sealdah is 2.45km. Which means, a passenger will have to pay Rs 10 for going from one of these stations to another.That’s the whole idea, say railway officials. Unlike in the existing Metro corridor, where 34 % passengers accounted for the Rs-5 segment, as the amount was applicable for a distance up to 5km, the base fare would be a token amount for the East-West corridor and would not burden the exchequer, an official said. “The 2km shortest travel distance makes all the difference for revenue generation,” said an official. “Under this, most commuters will come in the Rs-10 bracket.”Tagged as the most advanced, technology-driven commute link in Kolkata, the East-West Metro corridor will sport a signalling system like that of Paris and Shanghai underground systems, which will enable trains to run at a frequency of twoand-a-half minutes, and at a reduced 90-second interval later. The 90-second gap will be even less than that in Paris and London, where trains run at a gap of 106 minutes. “The fare structure should appear becoming of such hi-tech system,” explained the official. The cost of the project is Rs 8,575 crore. “A good lot of commuters are likely to pay Rs 30 because of the long distance between Howrah and Kolkata.”While all East-West rakes are airconditioned, security is of high standards, with platform screen doors being fitted at all stations. Such screen doors are installed at some Delhi stations. What’s more, the stations are wheelchair-friendly, making it accessible to people with disabilities from the streets.With operations of Phase 1, covering 5.8km from Sector V to Salt Lake Stadium, scheduled to start soon, one has to pay Rs 20 to travel the entire distance. With a Rs-5 ticket, a commuter will be able to make it to the next station only. When Phoolbagan is added for operations later this year, the end-to-end ticket cost will be Rs 20 for the 6.5km travel. When the entire 16.5km stretch is open, the end-to-end cost will be Rs 30, which is lower than that at Delhi Metro , where one can travel 5m-12 km for Rs 30 and has to pay Rs 40 for riding beyond 12km.

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