Pune: For IT professional Mahesh Deshmukh, Wednesday’s travel to his workplace in Hinjewadi IT park was hassle-free. He boarded a Pink Line Metro train at Civil Court station and got down at Hinjewadi Phase-I within 40 minutes without the daily dose of traffic chaos.Echoing Deshmukh, several Metro commuters on the Civil Court-Maan stretch said their travel time reduced by at least half-an-hour. Sayli Shah said the commute from Wakad Chowk to Hinjewadi Phase-II station was comfortable.“The entire stretch from Wakad to Hinjewadi Phase-II remains busy and chaotic during rush hours. We are expecting relief from these snarls,” Shah said.Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated the 23-km-long Metro Pink Line from Maan to Civil Court on Tuesday. The actual services began from Wednesday morning.A Metro employee at Civil Court station said the footfall was significant in the morning hours. “I was busy explaining to commuters how to buy tickets. Many kept asking about the exact location of the stations to figure out the nearest station to get down,” he said.Another employee said many commuters from the two existing Metro lines — Vanaz to Ramwadi and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation to Swargate — switched to the new line at Civil Court station. Koregaon Park’s Ajay Agarwal was one such commuter.Ajay said he travelled to his office in the Balewadi area by bike till Tuesday. He took a Metro on Wednesday from Kalyaninagar station up to Civil Court and then another train on Pink Line from Civil Court to Balewadi.“My travel time on bike would be around 30-45 minutes, depending on the traffic. It took about 30 minutes to reach Balewadi by Metro. There was no huge drop in the travel time, but the overall comfort in Metro was much more,” Ajay said.Senior citizen Ashok Shinde from the Shivajinagar area said the staff deployed at each station to assist commuters was helpful. “I took a ride from Civil Court station to Balewadi. The announcements during the trip helped me a lot,” Shinde said.A connecting foot overbridge (FoB) at Civil Court station between the old routes and Pink Line helped commuters switch trains. The FoB connects the concourse levels of the two stations without commuters getting out of the station premises. Some travellers sought direction boards for clarity.
