M. Nageswara Rao, a resident of Lingampally regularly travels in MMTS trains to reach his workplace at Panjagutta. But of late, he curses himself for his choice of commuting as the schedule of these trains has gone erratic and so has his daily schedule.
Many MMTS trains, particularly those on the Falaknuma-Lingampally route are late by at least 30 minutes. For instance, there is a train from Begumpet station at 6.19 p.m. and it is expected to reach Lingampally by 6.50 p.m. But this train is late and arrives at 6.45 p.m. or 7 p.m. at Begumpet station and this happens thrice in a week, fumes Mr. Rao.
The travails are not his alone but those of a majority of 1.50 lakh passengers who avail of the service daily to reach their work places.
Punctuality of MMTS trains has gone for a toss these days. Earlier, the service was known for its punctuality but now most of the trains, including those on Falaknuma-Lingampally and Lingampally-Hyderabad most often lag behind schedule causing inconvenience to commuters, says Vijayaraghavan, a member of MMTS Travellers Group.
Trains 47152, 47154, 47211 on the Falaknuma-Lingampally route are late most of the time. Even when they arrive on time at Sitaphalmandi, they are stopped before Secunderabad home signal or at the Hussainsagar junction for a long time for clearance, he says.
Bunching
Many office goers board 47131, 47132, 47133 trains on the Lingampally-Hyderabad route to save time but these trains run behind schedule regularly. The delay also aids in bunching of trains and at times, two or three trains arrive at one station within a short span, he says. “With lack of proper announcement system, people board the first available train and other trains that follow run with very few passengers,” says Mr. Vijayaraghavan.
Further to compensate for the delay, most of the times, many services from Lingampally-Falaknuma are cancelled and run as special trains from Lingampally to Secunderabad. This is a regular practice and it is affecting passengers a lot, he adds.
On the other hand, South Central Railway (SCR) authorities claim that MMTS are operated according to schedule except on few occasions. Track maintenance works are being taken up on the Secunderabad-Lingampally route and at times, this affects the train schedule, says a SCR spokesperson.
