HYDERABAD: Commuters of Hyderabad
Metro need not worry about endless waiting time as they can soon hope to catch a train every three minutes as frequency is set to be improved in the next couple of years.
As if this cheer wasn’t enough for commuters, Hyderabad Metro
Rail Ltd (HMRL) has claimed that the waiting period for commuters on the 30-km long Miyapur-Ameerpet-Nagole corridor had come down to a mere 6.5 minutes during peak hours, and eight minutes during non-peak hours.
“As the demand increases, we can further increase the frequency—it can be as low as two minutes. My expectation is that in the next two years or so, the frequency will go down to three minutes per train. Although the ultimate capacity permitted by the technology is 90-second frequency, there are some physical limitations,” HMRL managing director NVR Reddy told TOI on Tuesday. Reddy went on to add that thanks to technology and communication-based train control (CBTC) system, the HMR project has the ‘ultimate capacity’ to run one train every 90 seconds.
The MD said trains operating on the entire corridor I (
Ameerpet to LB Nagar), which is expected to be thrown open to the public by August-end, will run at a frequency of 6.5 minutes during peak hours and eight minutes during non-peak hours.
Post- introduction of higher frequency trains, 540 services are now being operated in both the directions in a single day as against the earlier 380 services in a day.
HMR, the commercial operations of which were inaugurated in November 2017, now sees a daily average ridership of close to 80,000 citizens, said senior authorities.
HMR officials are expecting that passenger patronage would see a huge shift once the entire corridor I is commissioned in August-end along with the eagerly-awaited Hi-tec City stretch by November this year. Techie commuters are set to provide a big boost to the Metro.
Photo for representative purpose only
