Governor E.S.L.Narasimhan will flag off Hyderabad Metro train operations between Ameerpet-Hitec City stretch of Metro Rail Corridor-III on Wednesday at 9.15 a.m.

This eagerly awaited 10 km stretch with 9 stations (will establish the crucial Metro Rail connectivity to the highly congested IT / ITES service areas of Hitec City, Madapur, Gachibowli.

Responding to the request of Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi and HMRL MD NVS Reddy, the Governor has consented to flag off the train operations in view of the long felt need of Metro connectivity. The event will be attended by only a few senior officers of the Government and the Concessionaire L&TMRHL. Regular train operations in this stretch will start from 4 p.m. on the same day.

Including Ameerpet there are 9 stations on this 10 km stretch. Taruni-Madhura Nagar station is being developed as a women managed station and in due course, it will have shops mostly catering to the needs of women and children. The idea is to develop this station as well as the two acre space available below as a women-centric station, where all the shopping needs of women and children will be met at one Metro station, which is being attempted for the first time in the world.

Unlike other stations which are mainly two-level stations, Jubilee Hills Check Post station is a single-level station where concourse level is avoided so as to reduce the already high level of the station due to gradient related problems. As the entire stretch is traversing an undulated terrain and highly curvaceous road, construction of viaduct and the stations posed several technical challenges, stated NVS Reddy.

Successfully overcoming innumerable court cases related to Right of Way and acquisition of the affected properties, several innovative engineering techniques were adopted to construct the Metro line and the stations in this stretch, he mentioned. Construction of reverse facility beyond Hitec City station in front of Cyber Towers and Trident hotel is being done in a staggered and sequential manner as the narrow passage is wedged between Cyber Towers on one side and flyover on the other side and it will take a couple of months for completion, stated L&TMRHL MD KVB Reddy.

Trains will initially run in a 5 km stretch between Jubilee Hills Check Post and Hitec City station following a traditional Railway practice of “twin single line method”. In this method the two tracks are treated as two separate single lines and trains are operated in both “up and down” direction on each line separately, till the “reversal” beyond Hitec City station is completed.

However, efforts are being made to add additional trains in this section to improve the frequency and to cater to the huge rush that is expected. Additional staff will also be deployed to guide the commuters to the right platform on which the next train is expected during the single line operation. In view of the ‘twin single line method’ of operation and the need to increase frequency despite ‘speed restrictions’ on a Metro stretch with many steep curves, initially 3 stations will not be opened for public at this stage and they will be opened after a few weeks, added NVS Reddy.

With this, while passengers of Corridor-III i.e., Nagole-Hitec City (27 km) can go to Hitec City area and vice-a-versa, and passengers of Corridor-I i.e., Miyapur-LB Nagar (29 km) will have to change the train at Ameerpet Metro station.

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