Transport in Hyderabad

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Secunderabad Railway Station is one of the central stations of Hyderabad

Hyderabad (Listeni/ˈhdərəˌbæd/ HY-dər-ə-bad; often /ˈhdrəˌbæd/), is the capital and the largest city of Telangana. It is located in the south central part of India. There are several modes of transportation available in the city. It is very well integrated and has modern transportation facilities. Though due to its presence in inland, on the Deccan Plateau waterways through sea is not possible.

Air

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In 1935, Hyderabad's Hakimpet air base was linked with international flight services.[1] The new and modern airport at Shamshabad replaced the old Begumpet Airport, on 2 March 2008. As of 2010, The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad has been judged among the world's top airports in the category of serving 5–15 million passengers, according to Airports Council International,[2] and the world's fifth best airport, according to Skytrax.[3] The airport has one of the longest runway (4260 metres) in India,[4] and caters to high passenger and cargo volumes. In January 2011, it became India's first airport to transport more than 30,000 tonnes (66,000,000 lb) of temperature-controlled pharmaceutical products.[5] It is the primary base for SpiceJet's fleet of Bombardier Dash 8s.[6] GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited, which operates the airport, has been awarded the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation award in the category of Best Airport Environmental Performance of the Year 2009.[7]

The airport is connected to the city by three major roads.[8] The 11.6-kilometre (7.2 mi) Hyderabad Elevated Expressway provides dedicated high-speed travel to the airport. As of 2011, it is the longest expressway in India.[9] The Nehru Outer Ring Road serves as a controlled-access expressway between Gachibowli and Shamshabad.[8] Metered taxis and buses are available as transports to the airport.[10]

Hyderabad is well connected with direct flights to all major destinations in India, as well as to various locations in Middle East, Southeast Asia, Europe and North America. Currently, Hyderabad has flights connecting either directly or intermediate stops to foreign cities like Frankfurt, Singapore, Dubai, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Dammam, Chicago (O'Hare), London (Heathrow), Doha, Jeddah, Muscat, Riyadh, Kuwait.

Roads

Hyderabad is well connected to many other locations in India, such as Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Nagpur, Chennai, Pune, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada, either through directly or through intermediary locations. The highway (express way) network linking Hyderabad to various parts of the country is very good. Three National Highways (NH) pass through the city—NH-7, NH-9 and NH-202.[11] Five state highways—SH-1, SH-2, SH-4, SH-5 and SH-6 begin from Hyderabad.[12] As a growing city, regular multiple development projects,[13] around the city had made traffic congestion a common issue.[14] Like many other Indian metropolitan cities, Hyderabad also face parking problems, particularly in the city center due to growing population density, encroachment of pavements, developing commercial centers. In Hyderabad the roads occupy 10% of the total city area.[12] The HMDA developed multiple projects such as Inner Ring Road, Outer Ring Road, interchanges, overpasses and underpasses to ease the traffic congestion.[9] As of 2011, Hyderabad Elevated Expressway is the longest expressway in India.[9] The HMDA and GHMC had come up with multiple development projects of mechanised multi-storeyed parking complexes and an Intelligent Transportation System (ITS).[15] The city has a well laid out internal road systems. Many of the important roads are 3-lane on either side. However, as in most in Indian cities, due to an increase in the population and the number of vehicles sold in last decade and the lack of perceptible lane discipline, chaotic traffic snarls occur throughout the day making driving in the city a stressful experience for vehicle owners.

File:Fly Over Hyd.jpg
The Telugu Talli flyover lit up at night

A series of flyovers have been developed at various important junctions across the city to decrease the traffic congestion. However, due to the narrow width of these flyovers, traffic snarls occur at peak hours In order to decrease these snarls, the city plans to improve the Inner Ring Road around Hyderabad within the city limits.

A new Jawaharlal Nehru Hyderabad Outer Ring Road [16] of about 160 km is complete. This ring road is expected to ease the traffic congestion by a lot inside the city as heavy vehicles passing through the city on the national highways can bypass the city using ORR. The first phase from Gachibowli to Shamshabad is partially opened to ease airport traffic.

The P V Narasimha Rao Elevated Expressway Corridor from Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital to Aramgarh Junction is completed. This is expected to be the longest flyover in India with a length spanning over 11.5 km. The expressway will allow high speed access to the Hyderabad International Airport.

Railways

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Nationally, Hyderabad is considered among the important railway cities. The South Central Railway is headquartered at Secunderabad.

The main railway stations for Hyderabad are

Hyderabad Commuter Rail and Bus Network
  • Secunderabad Railway Station
  • Nampally Railway Station (Hyderabad Deccan)
  • Kachiguda Railway Station
  • Begumpet Railway Station
  • Lingampally Railway Station
  • Falaknuma Railway Station

A new railway station is proposed to be built near HITEC City at Madhapur. Also the Moula-Ali station is expected to be improved to a world class station in near future. These two stations along with Begumpet and Kachiguda are expected to considerable decrease the traffic at Secundrrabad and Nampally (Hyderabad Deccan) stations.

Telangana state road transport corporation

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Hyderabad has an extensive bus service operated by TSRTC inside the city[17] and to various places across the state. The Mahatma Gandhi bus station or the Imlibun bus station as it is locally known, was once the largest bus station in Asia.[citation needed] It is now the third biggest station in Asia.[citation needed] Other major bus stations include Jubilee bus station (JBS), Dilsukhnagar bus station, Mehdipatnam bus station. The TSRTC operates point to point bus services which connect important places within the city, with a very good frequency. The buses are exceptionally clean and services are very user friendly when compared to other cities in India. There are 4000+ buses in the city running the point to point service. The first double-decker buses in Hyderabad designed by APSRTC & Hyderabad Allwyn Limited were introduced in April 1963.[18]

TSRTC has several kinds of services which differ in comfort, price and the number of stops:

  • Metro Luxury (air-conditioned)
  • City Sheetal (air-conditioned)
  • Metro Deluxe
  • Metro Express
  • Ordinary
  • Pushpak services (for airport connectivity)

SETWIN

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In addition to APSRTC nearly one hundred minibuses are being operated in the twin cities[19] by Setwin.

The SETWIN minibus services were started in Hyderabad in 1979. They were stopped for two and half years for causing pollution and poor safety culture. However, in 2006 the services were resumed.[20]

Metro, Demu and MMTS

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The Necklace Road MMTS Station

MMTS and Demu

Hyderabad has a light rail transportation system known as the Multi Modal Transport System (MMTS). The MMTS is owned and operated by Indian Railways. The MMTS connects various parts of the city and suburbs of Hyderabad. During its initial phase, the MMTS along with the then planned MRTS was expected to considerably ease the traffic congestion in Hyderabad. But the railway department did not fully develop the MMTS as planned earlier owing to poor initial patronage. There are some Demu trains running in Hyderabad which run from Secunderabad j.n to Manoharbad, Kachiguda to Manoharbad and Umdanagar to Falaknuma.

Metro

The government of Telangana along with private partnership has undertaken metro rail project in Hyderabad. The elevated rail shall run across three proposed routes. The project is expected to complete in four years. It will provide rapid transport across the city without causing damage to the heritage sites along the 3 corridors.

The 3 corridors are:

  • Miyapur to LB Nagar;
  • Jubilee Bus Station to Falaknuma;
  • Nagole to Shilparamam.

Taxis

The yellow colored Auto Rickshaw usually referred to as an "auto", is the most widely used taxi in Hyderabad. They can be found in any part of the city and at anytime of the day. Taximeters are compulsory for all taxis in Hyderabad and this applies for autos too.

Recently other automobiles like cars and SUVs have been introduced as taxi. Radio Taxis provide a luxury travel in the city but are considered relatively expensive for common man. Some of the known service providers are

Car rental services are also available in the city. Known operators are Avis, Hertz and Budget.

Notes

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  17. Bus routes within Hyderabad
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