Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday inaugurated an 11-km stretch of the Hyderabad Metro Rail project between Jubilee Bus Station (JBS) and the Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS).

With this inaugural, the Hyderabad Metro Rail becomes the second-largest operational Metro network in the country after Delhi Metro. After the launch, Rao, accompanied by his Cabinet colleagues and other dignitaries, took the first ride from JBS Parade Ground station to MGBS.

The 11-km 'Corridor II Green Line,' featuring nine stations, connects the twin cities of Secunderabad with Hyderabad at the MGBS on the Musi river. It is expected to reduce travel time to just 16 minutes from one end to the other, as against 45 minutes by road, according to an L&T press release.

The world's largest public-private partnership, the Hyderabad Metro Rail is now the second-largest operational metro network in the country covering 69.2 kms, the release said. The JBS Parade Ground metro station is one of the tallest in the project with five levels, it said.

Spread over three lakh square feet, the MGBS Interchange Metro station is one of the largest in the country with several special features, the release said.

Uniquely built, the station houses the interchange between Corridors I and II with three levels with each, again split into two, as one corridor passes over the other, it said.

As builders of nations, we are proud to be doing the projects that make India proud and the iconic Hyderabad Metro Rail project ranks among one of most prestigious projects that we have executed, the release quoted S N Subrahmanyan, CEO and managing director of Larsen & Toubro, as saying.

In November 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the Miyapur and Nagole stretch of the rail project. In September 2018, another stretch between Ameerpet to LB Nagar was commissioned.

In March 2019, the stretch between Ameerpet and Hi-Tec City was inaugurated. In November 2019, another stretch between Hitec City station and Raidurg was opened. The launch of Metro rail services between JBS and MGBS had its share of reactions from political leaders of different parties since the last two days.

Amazing that you have funds for JBS & MGBS, when will @hmrgov start and complete MGBS to FALAKNUMA?, tweeted Asaduddin Owaisi, president of AIMIM which is a friendly party of the ruling TRS.

Falaknuma is located in the old city of Hyderabad. Former state Congress president and ex-minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah said on Friday that the Hyderabad Metro Rail became a reality because of the farsightedness of the previous Congress regime.

Saying that chief minister Rao had earlier opposed Metro rail, on the ground that it would hurt the livelihood of thousands of people dependent on traditional shopping centres at Sultan Bazar in the city, Laxmaiah alleged that the project got delayed because of Rao.

BJP MLC and the party's Hyderabad unit president N Ramachander Rao claimed in a statement that he was not invited to the launch event on Friday and that it was a 'breach of protocol.'

First Published:Feb 8, 2020 3:18 PM IST