SCR General Manager Arun Kumar Jain on Friday reiterated that the 100-km MMTS Phase Two project connecting the suburbs with the central city regions will be completed in all aspects by January next year.
The doubling and electrification works are being completed between the Secunderabad and Moula Ali sections. Once this line is completed in all aspects, it will be possible to reduce the load on Secunderabad railway station through the bypass and also will help in running more local trains, he told a press conference at Rail Nilayam.
But, Mr. Jain said the SCR has not made any plan to acquire any new rakes (train sets) for running the extended operations once the new lines also come into play. “We have not yet thought about it. We will make use of the existing trains as the passenger ridership is anyway just 50%,” he said.
The GM and other senior officers present said the number of passengers riding has not even reached the pre-COVID levels forcing the authorities concerned to cancel the services. SCR has been running about 87 services daily as compared to 121 before COVID and the number of passengers had come down to about 50-60,000 a day from a peak of 1.20 lakh.
More than a dozen services are being cancelled especially during the weekends citing lack of patronage or due to maintenance issues. Mr.Jain said the issue of increasing the frequency of trains during peak hours would be examined, when asked about the lack of services during the morning and evening peak hours.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in April launched the MMTS Phase Two lines between Falaknuma-Umdanagar and Secunderabad-Medchal. Railways has decided to complete the project with its own funds after waiting in vain for the State government to pay its remaining share of the 2/3rd cost (of a total ₹1,169 crore) of the works as per the pact signed.
