TS govt to build Airport Express Metro Corridor

Hyderabad: The Telangana government has given a green signal for the city's second phase of 31-km Hyderabad Metro Rail connecting Mind Space Junction in Hitech City with Shamshabad Airport at an estimated cost of Rs 6,250 crore.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao would lay the foundation stone for the Airport Express Metro (Corridor-4) on December 9.

According to Hyderabad Metro Rail officials, the Airport Express Metro Corridor will take off from Raidurg Metro Terminal Station at Mindspace Junction pass through Biodiversity Junction, Khajaguda Road, Nanakramguda Junction on the Outer Ring Road (ORR). There is a dedicated Metro Rail Right of Way (RoW) in the ORR and the Airport Express Metro Corridor would be taken to Shamshabad International Airport through this RoW. It would take just 20 minutes to connect the airport with the main city.

The officials further said a large number of commercial and residential high rise buildings with world-class facilities were coming up in this corridor. All major cities have metro rail connectivity to airport and once this project is completed Hyderabad would join that league and would give further boost to Hyderabad as global destination for investments.

The proposed high-speed Hyderabad Metro Rail line will contain both elevated and underground sections, where around 2.5 km of the entire stretch will be underground.

The Hyderabad Airport Metro Rail (HAML) is expected to oversee the project. The Airport Express Metro is a Telangana State government funded project and will be completed in three years.

HMRL MD NVS Reddy said the Hyderabad Airport Metro Ltd (HAML) will build it on behalf of Government of Telangana as a pure state government project and it was not a PPP project like the first three corridors.