The 8.5-kilometre elevated section of Metro Line 3 was put into operation on Thursday.
Although the train service was scheduled to start at 8 am, crowds waited to board around one hour earlier. The four-carriage train, with a capacity of over 900 passengers, was fully occupied within just two minutes of its arrival at Cau Giay Station.
Passengers on the Metro Line 3 Nhon-Hanoi Station route on August 8. (photo by Quang Duog)
Phung Thi Thu, 67, from Son Tay Town in Hanoi, said she got up early on Thursday and travelled nearly 40 kilometres to Nhon Station to enjoy the train service.
Tram Anh, 40, of Cau Dien Ward in Hanoi, said she was happy to see the official operation after it had repeatedly been delayed.
Some 300 staff have been employed on the metro line's eight stations on the elevated section by Hanoi Metro.
Vu Hong Truong, director of Hanoi Metro, said that on the first day of operation, roughly 1,800 passengers used Metro Line 3 per hour.
In the first 15 days of the pilot run, passengers will be offered the rides free of charge. After that, the ticket price will be VND12,000 VND per person, while the daily ticket is VND24,000.
The monthly tickets will be similar to the Cat Linh-Ha Dong metro route, at VND200,000 per person. For students, the cost will be VND100,000.
The trains will run from 5.30 am to 10 pm daily.
Under Hanoi's Urban Transport Master Plan until 2030, with a vision to 2050 approved by the prime minister, Hanoi would have nine metro routes. To date, only two among those have been put into use.
