The Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) authorities on Thursday announced introduction of an extra train for every hour from Ameerpet to Hi-Tec City to cater to the increasing rush, especially during peak hours from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., during which time about 14,000 passengers use the service.
With the additional service, there would be a train towards Hi-Tec City every 7.5 minutes, said HMR Managing Director N.V.S. Reddy. He attributed the increasing number of passengers, about 2.75 lakh on weekdays, to the shuttle services at several stations such as Hi-Tec City, Durgamcheruvu, Secunderabad East, Mettuguda and others.
“The special feature of running metro trains separately on twin tracks between Ameerpet and Hi-Tec City is preventing us from increasing the frequency further or run more trains,” he said. But, this is expected to come to an end towards July when the ‘reversal’ facility, which is under construction beyond the Hi-Tec City station, would be completed.
It would enable metro trains to go forward from the Hi-Tec City station and return on the other side of the platform allowing the L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad (L&TMRH) to run trains normally. “At present, we are mulling two options – to commission the reversal in July-end or straightaway open upto Raidurg (Mindspace Junction) in August and have better frequency,” he said.
The extra train facility from Ameerpet to Hi-Tec City would be a second such additional service on Corridor Three from Nagole to Hi-Tec City/Raidurg. When the route was opened in March, an additional train service was introduced from Begumpet towards Hi-Tec city with the extra three-coach train stationed at Begumpet ‘pocket’ line.
Such ‘pocket’ or looplines in the railway parlance are also available at Ameerpet and Bhoiguda. The extra train service from Ameerpet would make use of the available pocketline.
