HYDERABAD: The commissioning of the much sought after Mindspace Metro station is likely to be delayed. It is reliably learnt that trial runs on the route have not started yet. Earlier this year, NVS Reddy, MD of HMRL, told Express that the Mindspace station was proposed to be functional by the end of August, after the completion of the Hitec City station’s train reversal system.
“Trial runs have not started yet. A date will be fixed soon. This will be followed by railway and security certification by the Indian Railways. The team will include independent engineers and meeting will have to be fixed before these multiple inspections take place,” added an official, on condition of anonymity.
Passengers on the busy Hitec City route have been hoping for the commissioning of the Mindspace station, as it will save money and time for the scores of IT employees who have to get down at Hitec City station and either take an auto-rickshaw or avail the ‘last mile’ connectivity options provided by HMRL. Indranil Hazra, a software employee, said, “The metro station will also solve the problem of the traffic snarls around Mindspace junction as many employees will ditch their cars and opt for the metro.”
However, Vijay Kumar, DCP, Cyberabad traffic police disagreed and said, “The traffic situation in Mindspace will be very minutely affected, as only the people who take the extended transportation from Hitec City station will travel by metro.”
He added that construction of the metro pillars has added to the already existing traffic problems. “Any form of construction narrows down the road, which will lead to congestion.” Recently, the movement of trains was spotted beyond the Hitec City metro station towards the Mindspace station, which was wrongly presumed to be a trial run for the proposed last stop on the Blue Line of Corridor 1.