Hyderabad Metro rail adds 16 km stretch to operations

HYDERABAD: L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad), which is setting up India’s second-largest metro rail project and world’s largest metro rail project under public-private-partnership (PPP) model, on Monday added 16 kilometres of the stretch to operations, taking the total stretch under operations to 46 km.
The elevated metro rail project of 72 km crisscrossing Hyderabad in three corridors involves over Rs 20,000 crore of cost after it suffered time and cost overruns before and after the formation of Telangana state from Rs 16,375 crore estimated earlier.

L&T, which had signed the concession agreement for the metro rail project in September 2010, was to complete all the three corridors by July 2017.

With the latest stretch between Ameerpet and LB Nagar commencing operations on Monday, the Hyderabad metro rail project has fully completed the 29-km corridor between Miyapur and LB Nagar.

While the corridor between Nagole and Raidurg is completed halfway till Ameerpet to commence operations, the other corridor between Jubilee Bus Station and Falaknuma is running many months behind the schedule.

A senior L&T official, who did not want to be named since he was not authorised to speak to the media, said the stretch between Ameerpet and Raidurg may take another 5-7 months for completion.