HYDERABAD: With increasing concern over environment and pollution in Hyderabad, the Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited has decided to make the journey by Metro comfortable by conserving the environment. On the lines of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation where the trains are environment-friendly and the Metro stations are mostly green buildings, the Metro in Hyderabad is working towards replicating the same.
“In a Metro, the quality of air is very important,” said C Shekhar Reddy, Chairman, Indian Green Building Council(IGBC). “We are mainly looking at reducing the carbon footprint in the city and it is more possible with railways than the road transport,” he said. Explaining the benefits of travelling by Metro, Shekhar Reddy said, “Shifting to Metro can eliminate green house gas emissions by 11 gm per person per kilometre.”
Sharing more details about the green Metro in the city, the Managing Director of Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited NVS Reddy said, “The Metro stations have an open design for natural ventilation. This way, we need separate air-conditioners as there will be natural cooling. Also, the stations were constructed in the cantilever design, which is very popular where they will be only one pillar supporting the them, instead of three. We can conserve a lot of natural light,” he said. Adding further, Reddy said that the stations and the rails will be equipped with LED lights. “We are also experimenting on sun pipes, that absorb the sunlight and convert it into electrical energy,” he said. Speaking more on energy conservation techniques used in the metro rail system, the managing director informed, “The platforms are slightly elevated. So as the train enters or leaves the station, not much effort has to be put for acceleration or deceleration. Also, with the help of modern technology, the breaking systems are introduced in such a way that every time the break is applied, some energy is created which will either be used to run the train or sent back to the grid to gain some carbon credit.”
The three depots of the Metro rail, located at Uppal, Falaknuma and Miyapur will be converted into landscapes.