Three more trains for the Hyderabad Metro Rail arrived at the Uppal depot on Sunday. The first one, which had arrived in May, is presently undergoing tests at the depot.
With this, four of the seven trains required for the Metro’s stage-I operations between Nagole and Mettuguda have been arrived, HMR Managing Director N.V.S. Reddy.
The trains have arrived ahead of schedule, giving sufficient time for elaborate tests and trial runs for safety certification by the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS).
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao complimented HMR officials and the concessionaire L&TMRH for the speedy arrival of trains. They were also advised to take all safety precautions before starting the trial runs.
South Korean company Hyundai Rotem is supplying a total of 171 coaches (57 trains) for all three corridors of the Metro, at a cost of Rs.1,800 crore. The 72-km-long project is scheduled for completion by June 2017.
The eight-kilometre Nagole-Mettuguda stretch, which will have seven stations, is expected to go on stream by March 2015. This will be preceded by six months of safety checks by the CMRS.
Each coach of the rolling stock will have a passenger carrying capacity of about 330 people, translating to 1,000 passengers for a three-coach train. As traffic picks up, the trains would be expanded to six coaches, he said.
The Metro has adopted the CBTC (Communication-Based Train Control) technology, a first in the country. The Delhi Metro plans to employ the system in the next phase of its operations. This radio-based communication and train control system enables a train to run every 90 seconds. Initially, the frequency of the trains will be five to 10 minutes during peak hours, which can be later brought down to two minutes.
While the maximum operating speed is 80 kmph, average speed would be 33-35 kmph due to stoppages at every station. This would be three times the average road vehicle speeds in the twin cities, Mr. Reddy said.
