The much awaited trial run of Hyderabad Metro will happen in the next few days on the elevated railway line. L&T Hyderabad Metro Rail project executives, who have received the first consignment of a three-coach train from South Korea recently, are busy making preparations for the first ever trial run.
It will ply on the Nagole-Mettuguda stretch, making an emphatic statement after weathering a rough weather, with some political parties and intellectuals strongly opposing the project. They argued that it destructs several heritage buildings and uproot hundreds of small businesses, while others contended that the city would suffer in the absence of such a project.
VB Gadgil, Chief Executive and Managing Director of the project, held at a stakeholders’ meeting last night here to give an update to them.
“The trail run for commercial operations will commence in couple of days and people can see the trains plying from Nagole to Mettuguda, a stretch of eight kilometre in the first phase,” he told the stakeholders.
₹20,000-cr project
The ₹20,000-crore project envisages, connecting the important stretches of the State capital and decongest the traffic on the city roads, covering a total distance of 72 km and dotted by 66 stations. The stretch is slated to be completed in the first phase on March 21, 2015. When completed, it will be the biggest ever investment made by the infrastructure major in a single city.
CBTC signalling system
L&T has built the largest pre-cast yard in India in city for the project. Hyderabad Metro has become the first one to use Communication-based Train Control (CBTC).
It is a railway signalling system that makes use of the telecommunications between the train and track equipment for the traffic management and infrastructure control. By means of the CBTC systems, the exact position of a train is known more accurately than with the traditional signalling systems.
“This would result in an efficient and safe way to manage the railway traffic. Metros (and other railway systems) are able to improve headways while maintaining or even improving safety. It is the next generation signalling technology that is increasingly adopted in subways and other new modes of transportation, he said.