HYDERABAD: They walk in hoping to reach their college for their practicals on time, but are in for a rude surprise. They quickly pull out their phones to click pictures of the rush at the Ameerpet Metro Rail station, to be able to share pictures of the humungous crowd there as 'proof' for being late.
Ridhi N. and Paridhi Goel had to make frantic calls to their heads of departments as they feared missing their exam on Friday due to the rush.
"News of crowded metro trains has been going viral on social media so our lecturers understood our plight and agreed to let us sit for the externals," said Ridhi. "But I shudder to think what would have happened if that wasn't the case," added Goel, who decided to never take a train at Ameerpet ever again, definitely not during 'peak' hours.
Anybody who walks in between 9 am and 12 noon and 5 pm and 9 pm to take a train has got stuck in the rush. The queues go winding on the platform to the stairs. For those waiting on escalators —one at Raidurg was switched off to create space for people to wait — it was 30 minutes before they could enter a train.
"It isn't pleasant once we get inside. Air-conditioning is the only saviour. The crowd, the pulling, pushing, fear of the virus, no regulation in women coaches, no regular cleaning - everything's bad from there on. I know of a friend who chose to get down at a stop before or after Ameerpet to avoid the crowd," said Surabi Nair, an IT professional, who no longer takes the Metro Rail.
As temperatures soar, commuters are switching to the Metro Rail in the hope of having a comfortable ride. The return to offices for work as added to the rush.
"The weather is extremely unpredictable. It’s 39°C hot since a couple of days and other times it rains heavily. This, coupled with road diversions and traffic jams from Madhapur towards Jubilee Hills, makes riding a bike to work the worst choice,” said Sankeertana Kollu.
“Buses barely make it on time, add to that the lack of frequency, how else do I make it to work, it's frustrating evening morning and evening. I have never wanted a graveyard shift but looks like that's my only solution," said Kollu, who hopes such a shift will mean her getting a pick and drop facility.
Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited, however, has not been able to manage the footfall well with stations, especially Raidurg and Ameerpet. Dilip Singh, a regular commuter taking the blue corridor said that despite the western side of the city growing rapidly, public transport has failed to keep pace. "Buses and the Metro are a huge letdown. The city is not ready to give up on working remotely," he added.
Commuters have been making desperate pleas to the Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) to focus on these issues before aiming higher. "The problem of overcrowding has been going on for a while now and the management cannot feign ignorance or innocence. Not a single comment or clarification has been made by them," Rudra M, an activist and public transport advocate said.
At the moment, Hyderabad Metro has 57 trains running across three corridors, with a frequency of 3-4 minutes. According to reports, ridership now stands at about 6.22 lakh a day.
Sources said that despite the demand, no new coaches or trains have been added. Though stations have been built to accommodate six-coach trains, not much has been done to procure more bogies. "The only effort we've seen in the past month has been the increase in personnel at the ticket counters and trains," said a Metro official, adding that having extra coaches could be a far-fetched dream given that HMRL is suffering losses of close to '1,740 crore.
