HMR to realign Metro route; 23 pillars to go

As per the revised proposal, realignment will be done at Assembly, Sultan Bazaar

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Metro Rail Ltd (HMR) has finally agreed to realign the route at the Assembly and the revised proposal has been approved by the Telangana government. Speaking to media persons here on Monday, HMR chief engineer Mohd Ziauddin said the metro rail route would now pass from Lalitha Kalathoranam, backside of Jubilee Hall and DGP office. He said the HMR would relocate/demolish 23 pillars which had already been constructed.

It may be mentioned that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had objected to passing of Metro Rail from Gun Park opposite Assembly building. The HMR has also changed the route at Sultan Bazaar, as asked by the Chief Minister. The Narayanguda - MG Bus Station corridor will now pass through Koti Women's College and Osmania Medical College.

Ziauddin said the final route would be finalised soon as the new alignment would affect one heritage building at the Women's College. Works are also on to finalise the Metro Rail route in the old city. The Falaknuma corridor will pass through Musi river, Salarjung Museum, Puranapul, Bahadurpura, Eidgah Mir Alam, Tadban and Shamsheerganj to Falaknuma. This will be 3.5 kilometre longer than the originally proposed route.

Ziauddin informed that the about 1,000 MM water line and 600 MM sewerage line were getting affected on the route from Narayanaguda - Musheerabad. He informed that HMR would have large spans at major junctions like Khairtabad, Punjagutta and MJ Market by constructing cast-in-situ (on-site) construction of viaduct.

He said that maximum care had been taken in finalisation of pier (pillar) locations at all the important junctions by considering free movement of road traffic. Normally, the pillars of Metro are kept at 100 ft spacing whereas at important junctions the pillars are kept at about 200 ft spacing so as to have clear vision to all vehicle drivers in every direction.

Ziauddin said that so far about 1,800 (65%) piers and foundations had been completed and viaduct had been completed for about 38 km length (out of a total 72 km). “The works are progressing at a brisk pace in all the corridors and L&T has deployed about 16 launching girders for erection for viaduct segments by lifting it from the top,” he said.

All the seven Metro Rail stations in Stage-1 namely Nagole, Uppal, SOI, NGRI, Habsiguda, Tarnaka and Mettuguda are completed. He also informed that there are plans to extend HMR by 88 KM and the plans had been submitted to the State government for approval.

The consultant has submitted proposals suggesting extension of HMR up to 400 KM. He said Metro Rail drivers were undergoing training of 400 hours at Nagole station. Of 56 trains, 33 had already arrived in the city, he said. Ziauddin has recently undergone training on Sustainable Urban Transport at Dubai which was sponsored by the World Bank and he was nominated by the Union Ministry of Urban Development. He said that the best practices adopted by Dubai Metro Rail would also be considered by HMR for better efficiency.