(Pics) Hyderabad Metro System’s Line-1 & Line-3 Inaugurated
Say hello to Hyderabad Metro – India’s 10th operational metro rail system ?
Less than an hour ago, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao inaugurated services on the first 29.80 km section of Hyderabad Metro’s 72 km Phase 1 project between Miyapur – Ameerpet (Line-1) and Nagole – Ameerpet (Line-3) at an event held at Line-1’s Miyapur Station. The 30 minute programme started with an inaugural plaque getting unveiled outside of the station, followed by a ribbon getting cut inside and a short video presentation, and culminated with the inaugural train getting flagged off towards Kukatpally and back.
Hyderabad’s metro project has been developed under the public-private partnership (PPP) model, with Larsen & Toubro executing the project on the Design-Build-Finance-Operate-and-Transfer (DBFOT) basis with a concession period of 35 years and renewal period of a further 25 years. After the concession agreement with L&T was signed in September 2010, the project’s ground breaking ceremony to start construction work took place on April 26, 2012.
Testing first began on the 8 km Nagole – Mettuguda route in August 2014, followed by the 12 km Miyapur – SR Nagar route in May 2015, then the 8.20 km Mettuguda – Begumpet route in October 2017 and finally the 750 m SR Nagar – Ameerpet and 1.6 km Ameerpet – Begumpet routes in early-November 2017. L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Limited received the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO)’s speed certificate in June 2016, and secured the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) approval for beginning operations in April 2016 (Nagole – Mettuguda), October 2016 (Miyapur – SR Nagar) and November 2017 (SR Nagar – Ameerpet – Mettuguda).
L&TMRHL finalized the line’s fare chart in November 2017 and Keolis SA (operations & maintenance contractor) initially plans to run services from 6 am to 10 pm by deploying 18 Hyundai Rotem trains at a headway of 15 minutes, equipped with Thales’ SelTrac Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) solution, to serve users through 24 stations spread across 2 lines –
• Line-1: Miyapur – Ameerpet (approx. 12.20 km)
Stations – Miyapur, JNTU, KPHB Colony, Kukatpally, Balanagar, Moosapet, Bharat Nagar, Erragadda, ESI Hospital, SR Nagar and Ameerpet (Interchange)
• Line-3: Nagole – Ameerpet (approx. 17.60 km)
Stations – Nagole, Uppal, Survey of India, NGRI, Habsiguda, Tarnaka, Mettuguda, Secunderabad East, Parade Grounds, Paradise, Rasoolpura, Prakash Nagar, Begumpet and Ameerpet (Interchange)
Alignment of Line-1 (Miyapur-Ameerpet) in green and Line-3 (Ameerpet – Nagole) in red – view Hyderabad Metro map with all stations marked
Some images –
Inaugural train at Miyapur Depot – Photo Copyright: HMRL
Photo Copyright: PIB India
Photo Copyright: Narendra Modi
Photo Copyright: PIB India
Photo Copyright: PIB India
On the way out of Miyapur Station – Photo Copyright: PIB India
Photo Copyright: The Hindu Business Line
Photo Copyright: New Indian Express
Photo Copyright: New Indian Express
Video –
Commercial operations on both lines start tomorrow morning at 6 am. Once that happens, Hyderabad Metro in one shot will become the 3rd largest network in the country after Delhi & Bangalore, beating Chennai (27.9 km) and Kolkata (28.1 km).
For more updates, check out the Hyderabad section of The Metro Rail Guy!
– TMRG
So metro work started before kochi and lucknow metros?
Yes. Started in 2012 itself and 2 stretches of 8KM completed in less than 3 years. But due to the line alignment changes and other hurdles the remaining parts are not completed in time.
True that. Poor financial viability of operating smaller stretches is another reason. Otherwise the 8 km Nagole – Mettuguda and 12 km Miyapur – Ameerpet sections would have opened up sooner, but would have remained unconnected.
Opening the entire 29.8 km stretch makes perfect business sense but fails on the social responsibility side of things. What’s happened has happened – can’t complain now 🙂
Also opening smaller stretches makes it difficult to resolve remaining issues as political will reduces once you have the first inauguration. So smart thinking on part of L&T.
True that. Political will post-inauguration is something I hadn’t considered.
Yes..infact lucknow is the fastest to complete and start!!!
Happy to see Hyderabad metro starting finally. L&T did a great job in execution of the project. All props to them. Hope to see the remaining 2 major stretches (Ameerpet to Hitech city and Ameerpet to LB nagar) also completed by end of 2018.
Congratulations to Shri NVS Reddy and entire L&T team for delivering the project successfully.
How many rail overbridges are under construction?
6 are ready and only 2 more are left – one at Lakdikapul and the other at Bhoiguda. Will share images on Twitter when possible.
Now the one more city is added to the list of Metro system of India. Congrats to L&T Team.
Hi TMRG
What is PPP model and how much govt has stake in this?
Many people like E.Sreedhara had told this is not a feasible idea.
Looking at the timeframe of completion, PPP model looks faster to build than building govt. sponsered like in Bangalore , Chennai etc.,
Well, at the beginning of the project the total cost estimated was around Rs 14,000 crores. Of this Central govt was supposed to fund 10% while the remaining borne by L&T (winner in the bid). State govt was supposed to provide the land for depots (Uppal, Miyapur), compensation for land owners along the 3 routes. Also around 60 acres at different places in the city where the bid winner (in this case L&T) can construct malls and lease them for long term to partly fund the project.
I don’t think it is possible in the current market situation to go for PPP model. L&T faced many problems and delays during the course of the project like line alignments changes which led to 1.5 years of delay, land acquisition issues etc…
Hyderabad Metro’s work started in 2012, so it has taken them 7 years to complete just 30 km i.e, a little over 4.2 km per year. So the pace of construction has been pretty slow as compared to other Metro systems such as Delhi.
Cost wise too the project seems rather expensive. Hyderabad Metro has so far cost 15,000 crores for 30 km i.e., 500 crores per km, In comparison, Delhi Metro phase III will cost 41,000 crores for 150 km, i.e., 270 crores per km. Now I know land acquisition costs vary from city to city and so do construction costs (overground or underground) but land is pretty expensive in Delhi. So, I am not really sure if L&T has been more efficient as far as construction costs are concerned.
Ticket prices for Hyderabad Metro also look rather high (another indication of high construction costs). Slabs (4-6,6-8,8-10) cost Rs 25, Rs 30 and Rs 35 in Hyderabad but Rs 30 in Delhi. Slabs (10-14,14-18) cost Rs 40 and Rs 45 in Hyderabad but Rs 40 in Delhi. Slabs (18-22,22-26) cost Rs 50 and Rs 55 in Hyderabad but Rs 50 in Delhi. And I thought Delhi people were completely ripped off with the recent metro price hikes.
Overall, this project certainly doesn’t look like a harbinger for PPP metro projects in India. But I will be looking forward to the operating costs for L&T run system. Particularity I want to see if they can run a metro system much more cheaply (without compromising quality) as compared to public metro systems. It is always good to have a private player in the market for benchmarking purposes and for copying innovative ideas.
Edit: Time Correction. 5 years for 30 km i.e., 6 km per year. Not too shabby but not too fast either. BTW how do you edit comments here.
Why isn’t Mr. AM Naik present during inauguration?? Any known reason..
Why there is no linkage from Nagole To L.B. Nagar in L & T Hyderabad Metro Rail. Does this stretch does not deserve this facility.
Initially it was planned to end the blue line at Tarnaka in 2007. Then they extended it till Nagole. To Construct LB Nagar and Nagole they were not mentally ready to do so.
Why there is no linkage from Nagole To L.B. Nagar in L & T Hyderabad Metro Rail. Does this stretch does not deserve this facility.
Hi
Glad to be here.
Are there any plans for routes in and near Alwa l/ECIL /Tirmulgiri ?
The current topography with expansive stretches under AOC, leaves us with very limited parall or alternative routes. I think AOC wont permit any pillars in its area due to security reasons, but will tirumalgiri or ECIl areas be considered?
Maybe in PHASE 3 from JBS to Alwal and Tarnaka to ECIL X Roads.