TICKETS TO BE SOLD TO VVIPs ON MAIDEN RIDE

Tickets will be sold to VVIP passengers for the five-km Metro Rail ride from Miyapur to Kukatpally after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates Hyderabad Metro Rail on November 28.

The first ticket worth `25 will be purchased by Mr Modi, followed by Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. They will also purchase a return ticket each for `25 for the return journey from Kukatpally to Miyapur.

The tickets will be later issued to Cabinet ministers, senior IAS and IPS officials and security personnel accompanying the VIPs.

Though each three-coach Metro Rail train has the capacity to ferry 1,000 passengers at a time, only 100 will be allowed in the premiere run with VVIPs due to security reasons.

Most of the passengers travelling in the first commercial trip will be security personnel including Special Protection Group of PM and security personnel of Governor and CM. While the PM, Governor and CM will purchase tickets on their own, the MAUD department is willing to bear the cost of the tickets for officials and security personnel accompanying them. Tickets will be sold to the general public on November 28 as commercial operations will be launched on November 29 at 6 am.

The ticket counters for the general public in all the stations will be opened at around 5 am on November 29. Anticipating a huge rush of people to throng the Metro stations from 4 am on November 29 to take their first Metro Rail ride, officials are making necessary arrangements by deploying additional staff to meet the demand.

Officials expect L&T to achieve breakeven on the Metro Rail project within three years and make a profit after five years, primarily due to leases and rentals of commercial properties in shopping malls, Metro stations and advertisements.