The Hyderabad Metro Rail has successfully transported 20 million riders within 280 days of beginning its operations.
"Reaching here would not be possible without you. Thank you for trusting and travelling with us," the Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) said in a statement to its commuters.
Over one lakh people took the Hyderabad Metro Rail in November last year, on the first day after the project was thrown open to the public and commercial operations began.
The 30 km-long first phase from Nagole to Miyapur has 24 stations covering several busy clusters and city landmarks, including the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Osmania University, Secunderabad Railway Station and major commercial hubs like Begumpet and Ameerpet.
It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who also took a ride from Miyapur to Kukatpally stations.
This largest metro project in the world in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode was conceived way back in 2007, and was actually grounded in 2010. However, the foundation stone of the project was laid in December 2012.
The project, which was once on the brink of collapse, saw many ups and downs since L&T won the bid in 2010 to build the 71.2-km elevated metro on three corridors.
It achieved financial closure for Rs 12,674 crore while Government of India was to fund Rs 1,458 crore under Viability Gap Funding (VGF).
In April this year, the Metro frequency on the Miyapur-Ameerpet-Nagole stretch was increased as officials said that there would be a train every seven minutes during peak hours. During non-peak hours, the frequency is eight minutes.
Meanwhile, HMRL director NVS Reddy said that the 16-km stretch between Ameerpet and LB Nagar as part of Corridor-I would be completed by this year, while the work between Ameerpet and Hitec City had also been expedited.
Works related to Corridor-II between JBS and MGBS are expected to finish early next year.
IANS inputs