Hyderabad Metro operations to be scaled up in phased manner

Hyderabad: The commercial operations of Hyderabad Metro Rail will be scaled up in a phased manner based on the demand from passengers after it is inaugurated on November 28. Official sources in HMR revealed that commercial operations will begin on November 29, a day after the launch.  This is because the entire Metro Rail machinery will be busy with the Prime Minister’s inauguration of HMR scheduled between 3 pm and 3.30 pm on November 28.

Some arrangements have to be made at stations after the inauguration programme, which will take some time, so instead of launching operations late in the evening or night of November 28, it was thought better to open for the public on November 29, at 5.30 am.  The trains will run for 17 hours a day, till 11 pm. Limited services will be offered during the first three months and will be scaled up to full level within six months. The Metro system has been designed to run a new trip every three to five minutes. But initially the frequency will be 10 to 12 minutes, between Miyapur-Ameerpet and Ameerpet-Nagole.

Initially, eight trains will operate between Miyapur-Ameerpet and 10 trains between Ameerpet-Nagole. Each trip can ferry 974 passengers, which amounts to 8,766 passengers per hour and 1.53 lakh per day if nine trains are run on an average between Miyapur-Ameerpet. If six trains are run per hour on an average between Ameerpet-Nagole, 5,844 passengers can be ferried per hour, which amounts to 1.02 lakh passengers per day.  The Metro can ferry 2.50 lakh passengers per day. If the demand goes up, the frequency of trains will be increased to three to five minutes from 10 to 12 minutes.