Kanpur welcomed it's first ever metro line on 28 December 2021. I was excited to board the metro. So, on 30 December 2021, I took off from Geeta Nagar to IIT in the newly inaugurated metro. It took me around 7 to 9 minutes to arrive at my destination.
The fastest built metro is nothing short of a blessing for the people. With an effective team in place, the newly built, untrodden station rightly follows the axiom of 'Clean Kanpur'.
Tickets priced from Rs 10 makes it the hero of all transports for the daily-travellers. The train features a helpline number displayed in every coach.
The Metro, is however, a mixed blessing for the people as the facilities come coupled with allegiance to social order.
The stations and the metro were chock-a-block the first few days with people turning up from nooks and corners of the city to relish a ride. The jam-packed rides were personally, a little disenchanting, but I wouldn’t complain much about this owing to the vim of Kanpurites!
Similar to my excursion in the Mumbai Metro, the Kanpur Metro too, lacks COVID protocols. The stations lack measures of body temperature check, sanitation on arrival and social distancing. Speaking of which, bumping into dozens of people without masks was no shocker to me.
A Relief For Daily Workers
What stood out to me the most was the pleasant staff and the hospitality. Cognisant of the fact that the Metro is inceptive to the city, the staff willingly helped travellers navigate through the procedures of ticketing and boarding.
The metro has multiple charging points as well as LCD panels in every coach to display relevant information. Along with a priority area for people with disabilities, it also provides for them to request an extended stop at stations at the touch of a button, making the transport more inclusive.
While the metro presently operates between IIT to Naubasta, construction is underway in the industrial area of Mandhana. The expansion would come as a sigh of relief for day labourers who use the trains or tempos running from Kalyanpur Station to Mandhana Station as transport to reach their workplace.
Comprehensively speaking, the Kanpur Metro turned out to be a belter, garnering plaudits from the public.
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