In what can be seen as good news for commuters using the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR), the Metro frequency on the Miyapur-Ameerpet-Nagole stretch has increased as officials said that there would be a train every seven minutes during peak hours.
During non-peak hours, the frequency would be eight minutes.
"L&T MRHL is happy to announce that metro trains will run every 7 minutes during peak hours (08:00 am to 11:00 am and 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm) and every 8 minutes during non-peak hours on both, Red (Miyapur to Ameerpet) and Blue (Nagole to Ameerpet) lines from April 21, 2018," officials said in a statement.
"After checking the functioning of Communication Based Train Control (CBTC) system, the Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety (CMRS) has issued authorisation certificate to adopt CBTC system. This enables CBTC to run trains with increased frequency and speed. If this augurs well for Metro Rail commuters, the frequency will be further increased as per demand in future,” the statement quoted NVS Reddy, HMR managing director, as saying.
KVB Reddy, MD & CEO, LTMRHL, said, “We are committed to provide best in class metro rail services to the citizens of Hyderabad and this is a step in that direction.”
The statement also said that this move would ensure that the journey time from Nagole to Secunderabad stretch would be 16 minutes, while Nagole to Ameerpet would take 32 minutes and Nagole to Miyapur would involve a travel time of 55 minutes.
Presently, arrangements are being made for the early commencement of commercial operations of Corridor-2 of the metro rail which will connect Jubilee Bus Stand to MGBS.
The 30 km-long first phase from Nagole to Miyapur was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 28 and has 24 stations, which covers a large part of the city - from the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium at Uppal to Osmania University and the Secunderabad Railway Station, to other areas like Ameerpet and Kukatpally.
Corridor 1 of the largest metro project in the world in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode was thrown open for commercial operations after that, with work on Corridor 2 and Corridor 3 aiming to be completed by December 2019.