Hyderabad Metro, MMTS witnesses heavy rush of passengers

Hyderabad Metro on Monday registered a record patronage of 4.17 lakh passengers and heavy rush was witnessed at the stations with many boarding the trains in the wake of the TSRTC employees strike on Tuesday as well.

Metro officials said the highest footfall of 26,000 was recorded at Ameerpet station, followed by Hitec City, which recorded 25,000 on Monday. With the RTC strike continuing, there was rush during peak hours as many employees and students boarded the services.

Meanwhile, for the first time in its history, South Central Railway (SCR) ferried 11.5 lakh unreserved passengers on a single day on October 21, which included 2.2 lakh passengers on the Hyderabad MultiModal Transport System (MMTS) services. On an average around 9.2 lakh passengers travel in SCR’s unreserved segment every day, including around 1.6 lakh passengers on MMTS.

Due to the bus strike followed by reopening of educational institutions on October 21, passengers thronged railway stations to travel by intercity express trains and



MMTS trains.

Previously, the highest number of passengers on the MMTS suburban services operating in the twin cities on a single day was two lakh, which was surpassed on Monday, a press release said.

The regular intercity express trains were augmented with 14 additional general coaches on October 21, including the Secunderabad-Guntur, Golconda Express (three general coaches) and Secunderabad-Ballarshah, Bhagyanagar Express (three general coaches).

Anticipating the additional rush of passengers, the zone is operating four special Jansadharan trains between Kacheguda-Nizamabad and Kacheguda-Kurnool City and augmenting general coaches. The zone expected more rush on Tuesday.

Gajanan Mallya, SCR General Manager, appreciated the efforts and co-ordination among the departments for the smooth handling of the high footfall without hitches. He called for meticulous planning to handle the extra rush of passengers in the days to come.