Given the enormity of the project, the first phase of Hyderabad Metro Rail could not meet the Ugadi launch schedule, and this became evident the other day when Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao informed the U.S. Ambassador, Richard Verma, that the project will be functional from next year.
Trial runs
While trial runs have been going on for the last few months on the stretch, the final all-clear certificate has to be issued by the Commissioner of Rail Safety before citizens are allowed to ride. An even more critical reason, metro rail officials state is there could be traffic chaos and commuter travails if the service is to be started in haste.
“Termination at Mettuguda means buses should be arranged to ferry riders to the Secunderabad Railway Station. It makes sense to begin the service once the metro rail is linked to the railway station.
The Government too is not keen on the project being opened in phases,” explain senior metro rail officials, unwilling to be identified.
Secunderabad railway station can be connected only when the Rail over Bridges (RoBs) are built at Chilkalguda, Oliphant and Alugaddabavi crossing over the existing railway lines.
Permission
With the Railways Ministry giving permission recently, work is expected to begin soon on these sites further cramping space for vehicular movement and hence, moving metro riders from Mettuguda would be a nightmare, they insist.
“We failed to anticipate these issues,” senior metro rail officials are candid.
In any case, the six-stage construction schedule for the project was more for setting work benchmarks rather than part of the Concessionaire Agreement.
RoBs construction could take 10 months and it would not affect the project completion schedule of July 2017, they claimed.