HiTec City got connected with the metro rail on Wednesday as Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan flagged off the services from the Ameerpet Interchange station amid a galaxy of top metro rail, municipal and police officials.
Commercial operations began at 4 p.m. with the last train from HiTec City leaving at 10.30 p.m. With a frequency of 9 to 12 minutes, trains will cover the 10-km stretch in 18 minutes. The entire Corridor-III from Nagole to Hitec City (27 km) will be covered in 50 minutes as against two hours by road.
Restricted halts
For now, halts are restricted to Taruni-Madhura Nagar, Yousufguda, Jubilee Hills Road No.5 and Durgam Cheruvu to keep up with speeds and better frequency. Passengers from Nagole can go to HiTec City and vice-versa without change whereas passengers travelling on Corridor-I of Miyapur-L.B. Nagar (29 km) will have to change trains at Ameerpet for HiTec City.
With the launch of this route, about 56 km of the 66-km metro line has become operational making it the second largest network in the country after Delhi, said Hyderabad Metro Rail managing director N.V.S. Reddy.
“Everyone had written off this project, but we have done the impossible with the government putting in ₹2,300 crore and ₹15,000 crore coming from L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad. We will complete Corridor-II — 10 km from Jubilee Bus Station to MGBS — by November this year and the remaining 1.5 km till Raidurg of Corridor III by the year-end. We will also think of how go about taking up work in Old City (MGBS-Falaknuma),” he explained.
L&TMRH CEO and MD K.V.B. Reddy informed that efforts were on to synchronise operations on this route with trains coming from Nagole frequency/speed wise till the 600-metre ‘reversal’ viaduct construction between Hotel Trident and Cyber Towers is completed in May.
Crunching numbers
He expected the number of passengers commuting daily to cross the 3-lakh mark from the existing 1.80 lakh once the HiTec City line stabilises as they expect patronage from the employees of IT/ITES firms of the area considering reduced travel time, comfort of an air-conditioned and pollution-free, green commute.
About 6 lakh smart cards have been purchased so far with 90,000 using them daily.
Along with the Governor, Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi, DGP M. Mahender Reddy, Municipal Administration Secretary Arvind Kumar, Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar, GHMC Commissioner M. Dana Kishore were among officials who travelled till HiTec City non-stop and returned by the same train after checking the station and its environs.
Call for connectivity
Mr. Narasimhan was informed about the street-level works of footpaths, steel barricades, bollards for preventing vehicles to clamber on, etc., for about 600 metres on either side of stations.
The Governor called for quick introduction of electric vehicles, mini-buses, etc. to provide first mile and last mile connectivity at metro stations.