Officials decide to have low-key celebrations because of the poll code; 32 million passengers avail the service so far. Thirty-two million passengers have been carried by Hyderabad Metro Rail trains ever since operations were launched a year ago between Nagole-Ameerpet-Miyapur route of 30 km and the 16-km Amerpet-L.B.Nagar stretch was opened a few months ago.

Altogether, 1.75 lakh passengers are travelling by metro trains daily between these two routes — 1.20 lakh on Corridor One (L.B.Nagar to Miyapur 29 km) and 50,000 on the Nagole-Ameerpet route (17 km). A train is now available for every eight minutes during non-peak hours and 6.5 minutes during peak hours ( 8 to 12 noon & 5 to 9 p.m.). During rush hours trains are also being run for every 3.5 minutes on Corridor One.

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“I am thankful to Hyderabadis for overwhelmingly welcoming and adopting the project as a lifeline in public transport. This is a unique example of a successful PPP model in public transport in India and has made significant impact on the commuting behaviour of people here,” said L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad (L&TMRH) MD and Chief Executive Officer K.V.B. Reddy on Wednesday.

Yet, metro rail officials have decided to keep the first anniversary celebrations low key because of the poll code. Instead, Mr. Reddy unveiled the anniversary logo and travelled along with children from ‘Aadarana’ home for orphaned and needy students, in a joyride from Nagole to Mettuguda. Reddy said various events have been lined up to celebrate with passengers, like slogan competition, pin your thoughts, painting competition and lucky draw amongst others. He also listed out various initiatives taken up to improve ridership experience of commuters like providing water, toilets, ladies section, cross-sell offers, complimentary newspapers etc., over the last few months.

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Last-mile connectivity options like electric vehicles, rent-a-bike service, rent-a-bicycle service, cab aggregator service and bus service at Metro stations too have been provided. And, there are around 4.5 lakh smart card which fetches 10% discount on all trips, he pointed out.

HMR MD N.V.S. Reddy informed that ground level works taken up between Ameerpet-Nagole will be completed below the stations to an extent of 200 metres by December end and other works by February next year Several other initiatives in the pipeline will be finalised once the new Government is in place, he added.#KhabarLive