Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will flag off the Lucknow Metro’s inaugural run on September 5, an official spokesman of the state government said on Tuesday.
The Home Minister is the Lok Sabha MP from the state capital.
Amid conflicting reports of the date of inauguration, Principal Secretary (Information) Awanish Kumar Awasthi told IANS that the programme has been fixed for September 5, Teachers Day, and added that some Central Ministers will also grace the occasion.
In the first phase, five trains will run between Transport Nagar and Charbagh stations. The service will be thrown open for the public from September 6.
Officials of the Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) said the trains will run from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. The safety audit has already been completed.
Satish Kumar Pandey, Commissioner Metro Railway Safety (CMRS), gave his certification to the LMRC on August 14 for commencing the revenue and commercial operations of its metro services.
He gave his approval to the LMRC after inspecting the trial run of metro train at the maximum operating speed of 80 kmph.
The LMRC has also launched its official website where the people can log in and find details about the time table and other details about the fares among other things, an official said. The base fare has been fixed at Rs 10.
The first phase of metro has been completed in a record three years, said LMRC Managing Director Kumar Keshav, adding that Go Smart cards would also be issued for the regular commuters.
There would be a 10 per cent discount on fares for those using smart cards. A commuter can take back the security money of Rs 100 on returning the Go Smart card to the metro counters.
The Lucknow Metro will also issue “Tourist Cards” to cater exclusively to the tourists and they would be priced at Rs 200 for a day and Rs 350 for three days.
Children up to three feet height will be able to travel free in the metro trains.
The Lucknow Metro project was commissioned by the Akhilesh Yadav government in 2013.