A 16-km stretch of Hyderabad Metro Rail between Ameerpet and L B Nagar was Monday inaugurated by Governor of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana E S L Narasimhan, making the entire Corridor-I phase operational.
With the inauguration of this route having 16 stations, the entire 29 km of corridor-I from Miyapur to LB Nagar is now open for passenger operations.
Corridor-I (Miyapur-LB Nagar: 29 km, 27 stations) is one of the most congested traffic corridors of Hyderabad.
With 46 km now operational, it is India's second largest Metro Rail network, next only to Delhi. It provides a crucial link between the north-western and the south-eastern parts of the city through its core.
In November 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the 30-km Miyapur-Nagole stretch (24 stations) of the 72-km-long elevated Hyderabad Metro Rail project, the world's largest such public-private partnership project.
The concessionaire L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Limited is building the project across three corridors.
The Governor later travelled from Ameerpet to LB Nagar by Metro train.
Speaking at a meeting organised at LB Nagar Metro station, the Governor set the target for completion of Hi-Tec City Metro line as December 2018.
Narasimhan said it is the responsibility of travellers to ensure cleanliness at Metro stations in the city.
He asked citizens to utilise the Metro services.
"This will give us relief from pollution on the roads, besides fuel savings and also help by allowing emergency vehicles like amublances to go freely on the roads.
I would request citizens of Hyderabad to make Metro a habit...train your minds to use the metro," Narasimhan said, adding "as a Governor I also travel by Metro".
Narasimhan said he dreamt of a single card to facilitate travel in the Metro train, besides to do shopping and also travel by bus, among other things.
He asked the public to first use the metro,give feedback on how services could be improved and not just criticise it.
He congratulated the Central and state governments and L&T for creating a wonderful structure.
IT and Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao said the total project cost is Rs 14,132 crore.
"The state government is spending nearly Rs 3,000 crore for land acquisition, while the Central government is giving 1,450 crore towards Viability Gap Funding (VGF) and L&T is investing over 12,000 crore," he said.
Rao said now (in the 30-km Miyapur-Nagole stretch), the Metro enjoys ridership of more than one lakh per day and with operationalisation of Ameerpet-L B Nagar route, he expressed the hope it would more than double from the current ridership.
Later, the Governor got off the Metro at Khairatabad Metro station and commuted to Raj Bhavan by a 'smart bicycle.'
Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited is developing a heritage precinct with continuous and wide footpaths for seamless pedestrian movement on a five-km stretch between Police Control Room and Rangamahal Junction, covering five stations.
MGBS Interchange Metro Rail station is one of the biggest Metro Rail stations in Asia.It connects Corridor-I (Miyapur-LB Nagar) and corridor-II (JBS-Falaknuma), said HMRL Managing Director N V S Reddy.
The Ameerpet-Hi-Tec City 10 km line will be open from December (this year) while services between Jubilee Bus Station and MGBS (10 km) will be launched mid 2019,Reddy said.
L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) has already installed CCTVs at all stations and in trains with 360 degree coverage, baggage scanners, door frame metal detectors and hand-held metal detectors.
On September 4, L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) had announced patronage of HMRL touched 20 million (passengers) since launch of the services in November 2017.
On May 7, a special coach exclusively for women was introduced in Hyderabad Metro trains.
A Metro security wing with over 2,000 personnel for the 72-km elevated HMRL project is being built up as a well organised unit, which includes armed components like Quick Response Team (QRT), Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS), Dog Squad, etc, officials had earlier said.
Skywalks are being built connecting stations directly to commercial complexes, stadiums and offices, the officials said, adding several steps have been taken up in making Hyderabad Metro rail disabled-friendly.
HMRL is the first "transit-oriented development" project that would exploit real estate and earn revenue by leasing out commercial and office spaces inside and outside metro stations across the city, officials had said.
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