KTR: Hyderabad Metro Rail to be extended by 200 km

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Metro Rail will be extended by another 200 km, in a phased manner.

“We will follow the Delhi model for the Metro Rail, which has a 200-km network for a five crore population. The first phase will be launched soon. Survey in the Old City is on where MIM has sought an additional 3.5 km. Work on the project started in 2012 and is as per schedule and will be completed in  2017. Extension will take time,” IT minister K.T. Rama Rao said.

At a ‘Meet the Press’ programme organised by the TUWJ here, Mr Rama Rao asserted that the government meant business.

Denying delay in execution of the Metro Rail project, he said that the 72-km first phase would be completed soon and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao was keen to extend the network  around Hyderabad.

Mr Rama Rao asserted that there would be no power cuts in the coming summer too and that there was no cash crunch for purchase of power and taking up of new power projects.

“Hyderabad will continue to be the economic growth engine and backbone of TS. As per the 2011 census, Hyderabad is home to about 30 per cent of TS population of 3.6 crore. Metro Rail will be an added feather to the city’s cap,” he said.

Recently, Mr Rama Rao and other ministers had experienced a ride on the Metro during a trial run for a short distance.

The two track rail project will eventually connect major bus stations at Miyapur, MGBS, Koti, Dilsukhnagar, Charminar and Jubilee Bus Station and integrated with existing train terminals at Secunderabad, Begumpet and Nampally, besides the existing MMTS service.

As per the project, it will cater to 15 lakh passengers during 2016-2017, once Phase-I is completed, with a station at every kilometer. Construction of three corridors is being taken up in six stages.