Hyderabad: L&T Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited expects to commence trial run for the first phase of the Rs 16,000 crore elevated metro project in the city during the first half of the year, a top official has said.
The rail coaches from the Hyundai Rotem consortium are expected to arrive in April or May, said V.B. Gadgil, Chief Executive and Managing Director, L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Limited.
The trial run will commence on the 8-km stretch between Nagole and Mettuguda section of the 72-km metro project and phase-I will be ready for commercial operations by March 2015.
"All efforts at the moment are going on to commission the first stage, that is between Nagole and Mettuguda, by March 21, 2015.
"The first train (full train) with three coaches will arrive sometime by April-end or May and that will go for full trials. First it will be tried on the depot. Then we will take it to the main line," Gadgil said.
On the impact of the proposed bifurcation of the state, he said the passenger traffic may not have much impact as the city will be intact. Replying to a query, Gadgil said the income from real estate would be approximately 50 to 55 per cent in the initial stages and may change according to the ridership.
"It changes. It is not static. In initial years almost 50-55 per cent is expected to come from real estate and the rest from ridership. When the ridership picks up then the ratio will change over a period of time," he said.
The company has spent Rs 3,000 crore on the project so far including both debt and equity, he said. The largest Public Private Partnership (PPP) project ever taken up will entail building the elevated rail system across three dense traffic corridors - Line 1 (L B Nagar to Miyapur), Line 2 (Jubilee Bus Station to Falaknuma) and Line 3 (Nagole to Shilparamam).
L&T tied up for Rs 11,478 crore from a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) as debt component for the project.
The infra major, on its part, is expected to infuse nearly Rs 3,500 crore as equity, besides getting Rs 1,458 crore as viability gap funding.
