Hyderabad Metro Rail passengers travelling towards the HiTec City on Corridor 3 (Nagole - HiTec City/Raidurg) are surging everyday with peaktime travel touching a high of 17,000 on Mondays!
While there are demands to increase the services on the route and many passengers are wondering why more coaches cannot be added to the present three-coach trains, it is more likely that metro rail authorities will improve services once the entire line is completed in all aspects, up to terminal station at Raidurg near MindSpace junction.
Trial runs
With L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad (L&TRMH) completing the elevated viaduct up to the terminal station and the station itself expected to get completed within a month’s time including entrys and exits, there is an expectation that the trial runs could begin later this month from HiTec City onwards.
Although it was initially indicated that the quicker services with better frequency can begin once the ‘reversal’ at Hotel Trident beyond the HiTec City metro station is completed, the idea is to straightaway begin operations from Raidurg where the trains are expected to transfer tracks a little distance before the station so that there will be no need for any reversal at the end.
“Once the trial runs are done and we get the nod from the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) we can have a train for every three minutes on the section and the speeds can be also be much better. We think this will be sufficient for the time being to tackle the passenger rush on the HiTec City route,” explained HMR Managing Director N.V.S. Reddy.
Right now because of the ‘restricted mode of operations’ between Jubilee Hills Check Post and HiTec City stations, trains are being at “average of 7.5 minutes” on both lines with additional services run during peak hours (8 a,m. to 11 a.m. & 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.) from Begumpet and Ameerpet stations. However, the frequency could stretch up to 15 minutes because of peculiarity of operations on the stretch.
On the prospect of increasing the number of coaches, a single coach or two cannot be affixed to the three-car coach train as the project is designed in such a manner that a train can be either of three coaches or six coaches. “All the metro stations are designed to cater to six-coach trains, but it is not required now as the increasing passenger load can easily be handled with thee-coach trains with better frequency,” maintained Mr. Reddy.
