Just like it has done in the 30-km inaugural stretch of Nagole-Ameerpet-Miyapur, Hyderabad Metro Rail authorities are going to improve and beautify areas underneath the stations on the 16-km Ameerpet-L.B. Nagar route which will be inaugurated by Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan on Monday.
This will have the entire Corridor One (Miyapur-L.B. Nagar) operational and the first of the three Corridors to be completed. It will also mean passengers from Miyapur towards L.B. Nagar need not change trains or platforms at Ameerpet.
The interesting bit of street work will be the parts at the Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS), where one of the biggest metro interchange stations also becomes operational, and Chaderghat.
“Street sides will be developed aesthetically, with a classic combination of cobble stones, Tandur and Shahbad stones etc., to merge with the Heritage Precinct in the 5-km stretch between Assembly station and MGBS station via Nampally, MJ Market, Jambagh, Osmania Medical College (OMC), and Rangmahal areas,” explained HMR MD N.V.S. Reddy on Sunday.
The area between OMC and Rangmahal where Corridor-II pillars are built as high portal pillars over Corridor-I pillars, reflects the extreme engineering skills of L&T, he pointed out. “The whole area will be developed as an international tourist destination with authentic heritage objects, period street furniture, designer pathways, greenery, etc.,” said Mr. Reddy.
MGBS station is another engineering feat in the metro rail project connecting Corridor-I and Corridor-II (Jubilee Bus Station-Falaknuma). While Corridor-I station is at lower level (1st and 2nd floor level), Corridor-II station is at the upper level (3rd and 4th floor level).
“It is a huge station with 58 main pillars and their strength requirement was so high that the steel reinforcement rods had to be made extremely dense and special techniques had to be used to pump specially reinforced cement concrete (RCC) into them during construction,” said the MD.
The station with length of 140 metres (460 ft) and width of 45 metres (150 ft) has one arm catering to MGBS bus depot and the other to Chaderghat area across Musi river.
Two skywalks connect all platforms of the bus station on one side and another to Chaderghat area. Chaderghat area skywalk is 600 ft. long and 20 ft. wide. These have been built big keeping in mind the potential traffic increase over the next few decades, he added.