Hyderabad: Ever since companies have started calling back employees, rush hour at the metro is fast becoming a nightmare, much to the annoyance of daily commuters.
According to a report by The News Minute, around three lakh passengers are using the metro on a daily basis. Though it is good news for the Hyderabad Metro Rail, passengers are not happy. They demand an increase in frequency to manage the swelling crowd.
An official from L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad Limited said that the metro currently receives around 3 lakh commuters daily. The official said there is a considerable increase in the number of passengers travelling between peak office hours.
To tackle this issue, L&T has started short loop trains which provide services at a faster frequency in high crowd interchange stations. “During the usual peak hours, a frequency of 4 minutes 30 seconds is maintained and during the non-peak hour frequency is kept at 7 minutes,” said the official.
However, passengers are not happy. Many complain about overcrowding, especially during peak hours. There is a growing demand for an increase in the number of coaches.
On being asked what is the metro rail doing to combat the growing crowd, N V S Reddy, Managing Director of the Hyderabad Metro Rail confessed that the L&T is running on low resources. However, he did not wish to add more information on this.
“We are continuously reviewing the train occupancy, and increasing the frequency as much as possible. The frequency of trains on Corridor 1 has now been increased to 4 minutes and 10 seconds and on Corridor 3, extra trips between Ameerpet and Raidurg are being run to reduce crowding,” Reddy said.
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