Stage 1 of Hyd metro to be ready from 2015 Ugadi

Stage I of the Rs 14,132-crore Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMR), comprising a stretch of 8 kilometre, is most likely to be opened for public on Ugadi, the Telugu new year day, in 2015, according to HMR managing director, NVS Reddy.

Reddy said Stage I would be completed according to schedule by December 2014. After trial runs, it would be opened for public in early April when the new year festival is usually celebrated. L&T, which is implementing the HMR project, achieved financial closure in March 2011, while the state government had fixed July 5, 2012 as the appointed date. The construction phase is scheduled to be completed by July 2017.

Reddy said the model coach, supplied by Hyundai Rotem of Korea, would be put for public display by chief minister, N Kiran Kumar Reddy, on Wednesday.

The construction of the 72-km project, comprising three corridors, is being taken up in six stages. Stage I is from Nagole to Mettuguda and Stage II is from Miyapur to Sanjeevareddy Nagar, a stretch of 11 km. Most of the engineering design works have been completed and the construction is stated to be going on at a brisk pace. Of the total 2,500 piers (pillars), 508 had been erected up to March 31, 2014.

HMR is procuring rolling stock from Hyundai Rotem of Korea, signalling and communication equipment from French company Thales Canada, rails from Tata Corus of France, fasteners from Vossloh of Germany, turnouts from Voestalpane of Austria and automatic fare collection system from Samsung Data Systems India Private Limited.

The company claims the project is being implemented with CBTC (communication-based train control) technology, the latest metro rail technology being used for the first time in the country.