'Swanky' Hyderabad Metro opens for public in July

Hyderabad: Hyderabad Metro Rail’s “model station” in Uppal, which is in the final stages of completion, will be thrown open to the public in July to seek their feedback and suggestions and make changes accordingly.

Lifts, escalators and staircases are being built at each of the 66 stations along the 72-kilometre project in three corridors.

The three corridors are Corridor-I from Miyapur-LB Nagar (29 km, 27 stations), Corridor-II from JBS to Falaknuma (15 km, 16 stations) and Corridor-III from Nagole to Shilparamam (28 km, 23 stations).

There will be three joint stations at Ameerpet (Corridors I & III), Parade Grounds (Corridors II & III) and at MGBS (Corridors I & II).

The unique feature of the stations is that they are being constructed on the “spine and wing model”, resembling a bird, and 70 per cent of it is pre-fabricated. This is to avoid inconvenience to road traffic during the construction period.

The stations are being built as ‘cantilever stations’, perched on only one pillar at the centre, with no side pillars, unlike in Delhi and Bengaluru. This design has been used for the first time in the country.

The stations are divided into two levels, “concourse” (first level) and “platform” (second level). Passengers’ entry and exit by staircases, escalators and lifts will begin at concourse level which will be at a height of 8 m (26 feet).

Each station, 140 m by 20 m in size and designed to accommodate six-coach trains, will cost around Rs 40 crore.

The stage-I operation, from Nagole to Mettuguda (8 km), will have eight stations. They will be ready by December.

Metro coaches from South Korea are expected to arrive here in the third week of May. The trial runs will begin from June, initially on the ground-level tracks at Nagole depot. Commercial operations on stage-I will begin in April 2015.

“Parking facilities are being developed near all the stations. Each station will have two acres of parking space on an average. We are acquiring private properties where there is no government land. If a station has limited parking space, we will have mechanised parking facility. We have already identified parking space for 20 stations. If the parking facility is far from the stations, we will arrange feeder buses to transit passengers to the stations. All these options are being explored,” said NVS Reddy, managing director, HMR.

Metro stations will be eco-friendly, using solar power, natural ventilation and no air-conditioning.

The stations are being built in four categories, 30 m (100 feet), 36 m (120 feet), 45 m (150 feet) and 60 m (200 feet) to avoid additional land acquisition for construction.

Mr Reddy said the stations will be connected to currently running MMTS services at Bharatnagar, Begumpet, Malakpet and Falaknuma along with cardinal train terminals at

Secunderabad, Nampally and Begumpet. He added that the bus depots that will be interlinked include Miyapur, MGBS, Koti, Dilshuknagar, Charminar and JBS.