New Year’s eve not only saw Hyderabad Metro Rail authorities running trains up to midnight and beyond between Nagole-Ameerpet and Miyapur-Ameerpet-L.B. Nagar stretches, but also saw the number of passengers crossing the two lakh mark for the first time ever since services began in November last year.
While paid passengers were 2.10 lakh, the total footfalls at the stations was 2.25 lakh and this includes those using the premises for simply crossing over the road like a foot-overbridge from the concourse level, for using the toilet facility or simply security men entering in and out which is also recorded on the cameras.
With heavy rush experienced between 5 p.m. and 10.30 p.m, Ameerpet interchange station saw a high of 36,000 passengers followed by Miyapur at 17,180, L.B. Nagar 14,173, KPHB 12,617, JNTU 11,669, Secunderabad 8,309 and Uppal station had 8,115 passengers, said HMR Managing Director N.V.S. Reddy on Tuesday.
Additional trips
Corridor One — L.B. Nagar to Miyapur of 29 km which has been completed in all respects and operational fully from September onwards has carried little more than 1.65 lakh passengers whereas the part operational Corridor Three — Nagole to Ameerpet has carried 59,315 passengers on December 31 till midnight.
L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad (L&TMRH) Chief Operating Officer Anil Kumar Saini informed that in addition to the 550 trips which are being run everyday, the New Year’s eve saw 56 more trains run in either direction.
Well received
“We had run a train every 10 minutes between 10.30 p.m. and 12.30 a.m. and we have received a very good response as there was lot of traffic movement on the roads. People seem to have enjoyed the ride and there has been no untoward incident reported from any station,” he explained.
While the stage is set for the pilot testing of common ticket for metro, bus, suburban rail services, autos and taxis in select stations, Mr. Saini has assured that the smart cards currently in operation would continue to coexist for a while since 5.2 lakh cards were sold so far.
Delay in recharge
With regard to ensuring that digital recharge of the metro smart card is immediately reflected on ‘TSavari’ mobile app, he said it was being looked into as there is currently a 35-40 minute delay before any recharge is reflected.
“We are trying to address the issue as there is a technical hitch. However, cards having minimum balance of ₹10 or more can pass through the gates,” he added.
