Secunderabad bridges slow down Metro Rail

Hyderabad: L&T officials confirmed on Tuesday that work on three major rail overbridges in Secunderabad will not be complete before December 2016. This puts a question mark on the opening of the Nagole-Secunderabad Metro Rail sector from June 2016. The Metro Rail is ready on the Nagole-Mettuguda stretch. Senior L&T officials said that they had not received communication from the government regarding starting Metro services.

On February 19, minister K.T. Rama Rao had stated that the first phase of Metro Rail would start by June 2016. Before this, in December 2015, he had stated that it would start in the first quarter of 2016.

Besides, the process to get the safety certificate from the Union railway ministry has not started. A senior officer said, “The state government has to take an active role to secure the safety certificate. But there is not much push from their end. These announcements have been made to the public but there is no communication to the company from the government.”

Despite the three ROBs being given maximum att-ention due to the engineering challenges and technical implications, L&T officials said they would not be completed before December. Works on the ROB at Oliphanta Bridge will five months, Bhoiguda eight months and Chikalguda four months. An officer said the work could be carried out only for three hours a day to avoid disruption of train traffic.