HYDERABAD: The last leg of the blue line, connecting Hitec City metro station to Raidurg near Mindspace junction was flagged off by IT Minister KT Rama Rao and Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar here on Friday. With this 1.5 km stretch opening, metro authorities hope the overall footfall will go up to 4 lakh passengers as nearly 1.5 lakh IT professionals work in this crucial corridor. The officials are hoping that at least 40,000 passengers are expected to travel daily.
Speaking on the occasion Ajay Kumar said: “Metro is already carrying about 4 lakh commuters per day. This 1.5 km stretch will add another 40,000 passengers initially and help provide seamless travel to many IT and ITES establishments in this part of the city.” He also directed HMRL officials to complete the footpaths and other facilities at Raidurg metro station in the next two weeks. The station will be unique in the sense that it would have a skywalk connecting the station to Raheja mindspace IT Park which will allow techies to beat the at-grade traffic and walk to the IT park post the metro ride.
Speaking to newsmen, HMRL Managing Director NVS Reddy said, “These trains will also function at a peak time with a frequency of 3.5 to 4.5 minutes. The area the metro now connects hosts some of the biggest IT companies in the State and so the project will benefit several staff.”
“Metro trains are running 780 trips daily covering 18,000 kms. It has till now carried 12.5 crore passengers in the last two years while receiving nearly 98 awards,” Reddy said. He further said that the trial runs on Jubliee Bus Station to Mahatma Gandhi Bus station had started and efforts were being made to commence the operations in 2-3 months.