Metro Rail ridership set to soar till Ganesh immersion

Hyderabad: During this Ganesh festival, around 94,000 passengers used the Khairatabad metro station on Saturday. To accommodate the heavy rush the Hyderabad Metro has decided to make special arrangements including running extra trains with higher frequency. In that regard on Sunday, a review meeting was organized by the HMRL managing director NVS Reddy on special arrangements.

According to Metro officials, heavy rush was seen in metro trains and stations in the last couple of weeks with the passenger numbers crossing the five lakh mark every day. Accordingly, extra trains with higher frequency will be running during peak hours as per the need until the end of Ganesh idol immersions. On Tuesday, trains will be operated beyond midnight and the last trains in all directions will leave at 1 am and reach their respective destinations at around 2 am, on the early hours of Wednesday. Additional police and private security personnel were deployed at Khairatabad and Lakdikapul metro stations and security arrangements were being monitored by DSP rank officers of HMRL, Additional ticket counters would also be opened at select metro stations to meet the demand, said a senior officer.