Hyderabad Metro opens Hitec City-Raidurg stretch for public today

Hyderabad, India (Urban Transport News): On the eve of completion of two years of metro services in Hyderabad city, Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) today launched metro services on the long-awaited 1.5-km long Hitec City-Raidurg stretch of corridor III (Blue Line) of Hyderabad Metro Rail project. K.T. Rama Rao, Minister of MA&UA, Industries, and IT&C Ministers; and Puvvada Ajay Kumar, Transport Minister, Government of Telangana along with NVS Reddy, Managing Director of Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited have flagged off the first train on Hitech City-Raidurg stretch at 10:15 am on November 29th, 2019.

State chief secretary SK Joshi, Municipal administration and urban development secretary Arvind Kumar were also present at the inaugural ceremony. After conducting a two-day safety inspection of 1.5-km long Hitec City-Raidurg stretch, Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety (CMRS) had issued a Safety Certificate for the opening of the stretch for passenger operations.

"Already carrying about 4 lakh passengers per day, this 1.5km stretch will add another 40,000 commuters initially and cover many more  Information Technology (IT) and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) establishments in this part of the city," said Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) Minister K.T. Rama Rao. "Over the last two years, the world’s largest metro in PPP mode and India’s second-largest metro network, the Hyderabad metro carried 12.5 crores (125 million) passengers," he added.

In March this year, the HMRL had opened metro service on the Ameerpet-Hitec City route to cater to thousands of techies who travel to the IT cluster.

Trial run on JBS-Falaknuma stretch

On November 25, HMRL has commenced trial tuns on the 11-km stretch between Jubilee Bus Station (JBS) to Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS). With a length of 11 km, the corridor has 9 stations: JBS-Parade Grounds; Secunderabad West; Gandhi Hospital; Musheerabad; RTC X Road; Chikkadpally; Narayanaguda; Sultan Bazar; and MGBS. According to NVS Reddy, MD/HMRL, it would take 16 minutes to cover this corridor from JBS to MGBS, as against 45 minutes by road.

"After receipt of satisfactory performance and safety certification from Thales, the Internal Safety Assessor (ISA) Halcrow and other related Indian and international organisations, the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) will be invited for the final safety clearance of the corridor. After CMRS safety certification, the corridor will be thrown open for passenger operations", said in the statement.