Minister for Municipal Administration K. T. Rama Rao instructed Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) officials to study the projects being undertaken by ‘MahaMetro’ - Maharastra Metro Rail Corporation in cities of Nagpur, Pune and Nasik with a combination of light metro and bus systems.
A team of officers headed by MahaMetro Managing Director Brijesh Dixit met KTR and gave a detailed presentation on their ongoing projects. The Minister was especially interested in ‘Metro Neo’ — the dedicated and elevated corridors bus system which is cost-effective and cheaper than the metro.
Metro Neo can carry up to 350 to 400 passengers at a time and run at a two-minute frequency. The officials also mentioned about their resource mobilisation models and stated that the project can be easily modified as per the increasing population and traffic. The officials also informed that both light metro with less passenger-carrying capacity and the metro neo can be built quickly to provide for faster public commute and do not require much land acquisition. The electric buses being operated for the BRTS can also be attuned to run on normal roads too.
Similarly, the flyovers being built are constructed in such a manner that in the future when the traffic volumes increase they can host light metro systems too. Environment friendly practices like rainwater harvesting system, sewage treatment and roof-top solar panels on metro coaches, etc., can also be replicated here, it was suggested.
The Minister observed that small cities other than Hyderabad could plan for these two projects with the Centre too being favourable to part fund them. He also directed Hyderabad Metro Rail officials to imbibe suitable practices while preparing detailed project reports for the Elevated Bus Rapid Transit system (EBRTS) in western Hyderabad. Mayor Bonthu Ram Mohan, Principal Secretary Arvind Kumar and Hyderabad Metro Rail MD N.V.S. Reddy attended the meeting.
