There is some relief in the horizon for passengers travelling by Hyderabad Metro Rail trains towards Hi-Tec City/Raidurg with L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad (L&TMRH) stating that two new three coach trains will be pressed into service from Ameerpet to Raidurg within “10 days”.
HMR managing director N.V.S. Reddy disclosed this to the media after getting the confirmation from L&TMRH Chief Operating Officer A.K. Saini during the launch of Paytm’s QR-code based metro ticketing system at the Metro Rail Bhavan here on Thursday.
“Trains towards Hi-Tec City and Raidurg, experiencing heavy rush during the peak hours, could be available for every 2.5 minutes from then on and it should be able to tackle the situation,” he said.
The QR-code based ticketing would be providing seamless and hassle-free travel to the passengers as multiple tickets can be brought in one go and it is valid for the first and last mile connectivity commute in feeder buses too.
HMR & L&TRMH are keen to announce more initiatives for the passengers benefit but the coronavirus scare has forced them to put off them off for a couple of weeks. Among these are providing QR-code based passes for the passengers and for now these would be available through the Paytm mobile app only, he said.
Passengers can now purchase a QR ticket on their Paytm app on their mobiles and display at the Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) gates to proceed for the journey. The feature is expected to help over 14 lakh smart card holders using metro services to book their tickets. QR code tickets can also be pre-booked with a validity of one day.
The MD said ever since QR code based tickets were introduced three months ago, the number of users has jumped to 60,000 from among the four lakh passengers. “We are also following all protocols necessary to prevent coronavirus spread and all trains, stations and passenger utilities are getting scrubbed and sanitised, so it is absolutely safe to use the metro rail,” he asserted.
COO Mr. Saini observed that HMR is the first metro rail across the country to go for end to end QR code ticketing and he expects the smart cards usage to be subsumed gradually into this mode.
L&TMRH MD & CEO K.V.B. Reddy pointed out that Paytm has been involved with the HMR from the inception and expected more benefits to follow for the passengers for quicker journeys.
Paytm senior vice-president Abhay Sharma said the firm provides multiple products and services like metro card recharges, mobile-based ticketing and trip pass for Bengaluru Metro, Delhi Metro and Mumbai Metro too. His colleague & assistant general manager Ankit Chowdhary also spoke.