Close to 4.6 lakh passengers availed the Hyderabad Metro Rail on New Year's Eve in what can be dubbed as a record footfall, as authorities had extended the timing and run trains till 2 am on January 1.
Authorities of the Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) had said that their normal footfall was between 4.1 lakh to 4.2 lakh passengers per day and additional 40,000 passengers had used the metro on December 31.
Media reports added that around 2,68,900 commuters travelled on the Miyapur-LB Nagar route, while 1,93,366 passengers travelled on the stretch connecting Nagole to Raidurg.
Authorities said that the Ameerpet metro station recorded the highest footfall, with 28,696 passenger entries and 25,548 exits.
HMRL Managing Director N V S Reddy said that no untoward incident took place as passengers were well behaved. The HMRL had deployed security personnel as a precautionary measure.
The Hyderabad Metro began operations in November 2017 after a 30-km stretch between Uppal and Miyapur was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In September 2018, the 16-km Ameerpet-LB Nagar line was inaugurated, which completed the 27 km Nagole-Hitec City corridor, one of three in the project.
In March last year, the much-awaited metro service on the Ameerpet-Hitec City route was inaugurated, to cater to thousands of techies who travel to the IT cluster. In December, the HMRL had flagged off services between Hitec City and Raidurg, thereby extending its services to the heart of the city's IT corridor.
Meanwhile, a 11-km stretch between Jubilee Bus Station (JBS) and Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS) via Parade Grounds, is yet to be inaugurated and work is almost complete. While the original plan was to extend the metro till Falaknuma, acquisition of land was a big challenge. At present, the issue of cost escalation has made the extension unfeasible.
Once the JBS-MGBS stretch is completed, the entire metro project, covering 68-km in Hyderabad, would be thrown open to the public.