HYDERABAD: The much-awaited Hyderabad metro rail corridor-1 stretch linking Ameerpet to LB Nagar via Khairatabad, Nampally, Malakpet and Dilsukhnagar, would be ready by the last week of July. The stretch would be thrown open to public by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
This was announced by Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) Minister KT Rama Rao here on Wednesday, after travelling in the metro rail from Ameerpet to LB Nagar in the new route, during the trial run. Along with Metro Rail managing director NVS Reddy, Transport Minister P Mahender Reddy and others, KTR inspected the ongoing works at Nampally and MGBS, enroute.
Trial runs and necessary safety tests are already in progress, with the certificate from the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety approving commercial operations also expected by the end of July, Rama Rao said.
With this, the 16 km busy stretch between Ameerpet and LB Nagar is expected to bring respite to the denizens from the heavy vehicular movement. The stretch would also complete the red line of the metro rail corridor-1 by linking Miyapur-Ameerpet stretch which is 13-km.
Compared to Chennai and Bengaluru Metros, the Hyderabad Metro was registering good patronage, he said. “More than 80,000 passengers were travelling every day in Metro trains of which 40 pc use smart cards. It is very much unlike Bengaluru and Chennai where I visited, wherein the footfall used to be a meagre 25,000 initially,” he said.
Multi-level parking lots
MAUD Minister KT Rama Rao has said tenders for construction of 42 multi-level car parking lots would be invited in 15 days. “There are complaints about lack of parking lots. We are calling tenders for 42 multi-level car parking lots. Those stretches would also be used to have commercial viability,” he said.