rediff ILAND
Welcome Guest, | Create your own iLand| Sign In  | New User? Get Started
BLOGS
iLand
Blogs
Friends/Contributors
Guestbook  
 
Sabarinath Nair
Categories
Nostalgia
Movies
Travel
Politics
Blogs
Photography
Personal
Books
Work
Technical
Cricket
My Top Posts
The Digital Divi...
My Trip to the C...
Alappuzha Backwa...
Those Hindi clas...
Childhood Enemie...
Netaji Remains A...
Who is rude?...
On a pair of unp...
Favourites 6
shobha warrier
Deepa
surya s
Rajeev S
Dileep Krishnan
Madhavan P K
What is an RSS feed?
RSS Feed 
sabarinath.rediffiland.com/  
Tuesday 7 October, 2008
 22:57 | 4/Apr/2008 |  1 Comment(s)
  Add Sabarinath Nair as Friend     Write to Sabarinath Nair     Forward this link
Chennai MRTS

The first time I traveled in the overhead Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) in Chennai around
three years ago was out of curiosity. My home state of Kerala doesn't
have metro rail in any of its major cities, let alone one that runs on
elevated tracks.


[pic: Mylapore (Thirumayilai) MRTS Station]

I
became a more frequent user of the MRTS after I shifted my residence to
Adyar area, which made Kasturba Nagar station just 5 minutes walk from
my house. By then railways had extended the service to Velachery and
increased the frequency to once every fifteen minutes. This mode of
transport made an excellent alternative to the slow, crowded MTC buses,
and the extremely expensive autorikshaws (one has to shell out anywhere
between 100 and 150 to travel from Chennai Central to Adyar). At Rs 6
per ticket, and a travelling time of just 20 minutes, MRTS trains are a
relief, the only grouses being that the services stops before 9 pm, and
that most stations are in bad shape. The station at Kasturba Nagar (at
Madhya Kailash signal) sports modern looks (at least most part of it),
though the one at Indira Nagar is pathetic. Now that the usage rate has
gone up, I hope that railways begin to keep the stations properly
maintained and well lit.

[pic: MRTS track near Mylapore]


Category: Blogs | Permalink