Title - The Hindu : NATIONAL / ANDHRA PRADESH : First metro train to run in mid-2015

L&TMRH plans to run the maiden service between Nagole and Mettuguda The first metro rail service is most likely to be commissioned by mid-2015 for the eight-kilometre stretch between Nagole and Mettuguda, a part of Line Three between Nagole and Raidurg.

Although the planned timeline is December 2014, the concessionaire L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad (L&TMRH) wants to be absolutely sure of all aspects in terms of safety before allowing passengers to embark. “A lot of time will be required for testing and trial runs,” said Managing Director & Chief Executive V.B. Gadgil in a recent interaction with the media.

Though the line will be ready by next year-end, it will be commissioned a few months later. But in the meantime, contracts for automatic fare collection, elevators and escalators for stations entries and exits as well as equipment for workshops are to be firmed up.

On schedule

“The project is on schedule and all out efforts are being made to complete all the 72-km routes by 2017. Geo-technical investigations are also going on at a very fast pace,” he declared. While the current pace was okay, he made it clear that the works accelerator has to be pressed and the output increased if the “tight timelines” have to be met.

The firm has been handed over about 239 acres of the 269 and studies were initiated to ascertain the kind of real estate development various regions of the city can “absorb”. The CEO said properties will be developed in phases following the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) mode. Real estate development will be in the form of retail space, malls and multiplexes.

“The city is growing radically and has a good potential. We have done conceptual designs for three to four land sites. We have taken environmental clearances and will be soon applying for municipal clearances,” he explained.

Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) Managing Director N.V.S. Reddy hastened to add that the first priority was to build infrastructure for running the elevated metro while the real estate component was only a means to cross-subsidise the project.

He also clarified that no religious structure or heritage monument was getting affected for the project. A few of them were either being ‘bypassed’ or shifted with mutual consent wherever road-widening was being taken up to facilitate easy traffic flow during the construction stage. Mr. Reddy also vowed that the works will begin at Sultan Bazar only after accommodating the affected parties.