L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad (L&TMRH) announced on Friday that it would increase the frequency of trains between Miyapur-Ameerpet-Nagole to one every seven minutes in the peak hours between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. from Saturday onwards.
During non-peak hours, the frequency would be one train every eight minutes in the inaugural metro rail stretch, which was opened November last. This development comes after Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) Ram Kripal gave the green signal for metro rail authorities to run more trains with average speed of 32 kmph and maximum speed of 70 kmph uniformly.
Mr. Kripal was on board the trains when trial runs with increased speeds were conducted earlier this week between midnight and 4 a.m..
He allowed Communication Based Train Control (CBTC) for the entire route, which allows the main Operations and Control Centre inside Uppal depot to control and monitor the movement of trains completely.
CBTC has been operational between Miyapur and S.R. Nagar (12 km) in ‘Red line’ or Corridor One - Miyapur to L.B. Nagar and between Nagole and Mettuguda (8 km) of Blue line or Corridor Three.
In these routes, the trains have been moving at scheduled speeds of about 30 kmph.
Increased speed
However, between Mettuguda and Ameerpet, as also between S.R. Nagar and Ameerpet, trains were run through the manual signalling system, slowing down the trains to an average of 22 kmph. With CBTC cleared for the entire route, L&TMRH has indicated reduced travel time due to the increased frequency and speeds.
Travel time now will be: Nagole to Secunderabad – 16 minutes, Nagole to Ameerpet – 32 minutes and Nagole to Miyapur – 55 minutes. “We are committed to provide best in-class metro rail services to citizens. I thank our team and partners, who have worked incessantly to make this happen,” said L&TMRH MD and CEO K.V.B. Reddy.
“We will be running 22 three-car trains from tomorrow, as against 15 trains. There will be 270 trips in each direction,” said L&TMRH COO Anil Kumar Saini. “Frequency of trains will be further increased as per demand in future,” said HMR MD N.V.S. Reddy.
First train would continue to begin at 6 a.m. and last train at 10.30 p.m. in either direction, with late night trains available only during IPL matches.
