Hyderabad: What a pity! Only a few takers for new MMTS services in city

MAIN GROUSE ….

♦ The launch of 13 new MMTS services between Secunderabad and Medchal has not been well patronised due to inadequate awareness of schedules

♦ Passengers are calling for the services to be extended to Lingampally, and some have suggested running two trains directly from Medchal to Lingampally and back in the morning and evening at convenient times for employees

Hyderabad: Recently, 13 new Multi-Modal Transport System (MMTS) services between Secunderabad and Medchal were launched, but due to inadequate awareness of the schedules at various stations along the route, the patronage for these services is moderate.

Daily passengers complain that only few people are taking advantage of these services due to a lack of planning foresight and because the trains only operate until Secunderabad from Medchal, causing many to miss their trains. Many passengers are calling for the services to be extended to Lingampally.

B T Srinivasan, General Secretary of the Federation of Resident Welfare Associations in Malkajgiri, stated that despite the South Central Railway introducing a good number of services between Secunderabad and Medchal, passengers are only crowding at Malkajgiri, Bolarum, and Secunderabad, while there is hardly any crowd at other stations in the section, including Lalaguda and RK Puram. Srinivasan believes it would be better if SCR extends the train services up to Lingampally.

Daily passenger Suresh had missed the Medchal to Secunderabad train at Bolarum Railway Station because he was not aware of the exact arrival and departure time of the train.

He said it would be better if SCR does clear publicity regarding the new MMTS services. Another passenger who was waiting for a train at Secunderabad Railway Station agreed and said it would be better if SCR extended the service up to Lingampally so they would not have to get down at Secunderabad Railway Station and board another MMTS train.

Noor, General Secretary of the Suburban Train & Bus Travellers Association, said that passengers in the northern part of the section are happy that the MMTS train services started from Secunderabad to Medchal and back.

However, they desire trains to Hitech City/Lingampally, which are not considered. Noor suggested that it would be better if SCR runs two trains directly from Medchal to Lingampally and back in the morning and evening at convenient times for employees. Additionally, printing train timings for MMTS services would be helpful.

When asked about the patronage of MMTS services, SCR officials did not respond.

As of now, 86 services are being operated daily to meet the suburban travel needs of the twin cities along with the 13 MMTS services that were recently launched.