HMR MD N.V.S. Reddy and L&TMRH MD K.V.B. Reddy during the seventh anniversary celebrations of Hyderabad Metro Rail held at Ameerpet interchange station on Thursday.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
It will take anywhere between 12 and 15 months for new three-coach metro train sets to join the existing 57 three-coach train sets of the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR), with technical and financial negotiations underway with BEML and others, disclosed L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad (L&TMRH) Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director K.V.B. Reddy on Thursday.
“We have been trying to get new train sets for the last one-and-a-half years despite financial constraints and even held negotiations with the Nagpur and Pune Metros. We had earlier loaned few of our trains to Nagpur Metro and sought four-five trains but it did not materialise as their passenger numbers shot up with more metro lines commissioned,” he said, during the seventh anniversary celebrations of HMR at the Ameerpet interchange station.
Another effort was made to get a few metro train sets from Singapore Metro, but it too did not fructify. This has led to pursuing 10 new train sets from BEML and talks are at an advanced stage. Even after the new train sets arrive it will take about three months to synchronise them with the current signalling systems for utmost safety, he explained.
Mr. Reddy also argued that “with little bit of discipline” during the entry/exit of the trains, moving away from the doors and keeping the bags down, few more passengers can be accommodated in the existing trains which can carry a maximum of 900 people. “We can easily carry 6.5 lakh to 7.5 lakh passengers with the existing infrastructure with these measures and this can be raised to 10 lakh once the new trains are also commissioned,” he attested.
Hyderabad peak-hour carrying capacity is said to be the highest among all metros with 60% of the total passenger load from 7.45 a.m. to 10.45 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. whereas it is about 55% in other places. L&TMRH has been carrying an average of 4.75 lakh passengers across the three corridors: Red Line (29 km) LB Nagar to Miyapur; Green Line (11 km) JBS to MGBS and Blue Line (29 km) Raidurg to Nagole.
“We are committed to the project and intend to make it profitable within the next three to four years despite cumulative loss of ₹6,000 crore,” said the MD. He pointed out that it took seven years to build the biggest PPP – public, private partnership project, metro project in the world with highest capital investment of more than ₹21,000 crore by L&T and despite several challenges during construction and later.
The MD thanked the commuters and was effusive in acknowledging the role played by the Telangana government and HMR MD N.V.S. Reddy in particular from “conception stage to commissioning to commercial operations”. Chief Strategy Officer Murali Varadarajan also spoke.
Green Miles Loyalty Club
L&TMRH has announced the launch of a ‘Green Miles Loyalty Club’ for passengers travelling using a smart card and maintaining a certain number of trips for three consecutive months to be eligible for valuable gifts to be given during Ugadi 2025. Platinum band for those doing 51 plus trips in a month, gold band for those doing 36-50 trips a month and silver band to 21-35 trips a month. A special seventh anniversary logo, a live painting and traditional dance formed part of the occasion.
ECO-FRIENDLY COMMUTING
(a) HMR has saved 184 million litres of fuel
(b) Reduction in 424 million kg of Co2
(c) 56,935 MWh of solar power generated
(d) 220 million units of electricity produced through regenerative braking
(e) 3.75 lakh kilolitres of rainwater harvested
Published – November 28, 2024 08:22 pm IST
