Secunderabad MMTS Trip Report
by Lakshman T
2003-08-10
It is good to be back on the group after long as I had been fraught with personel and health problems to a great degree for over a month which made me be off the group for a while.
I took the MRTS yesterday at 15.25 HRS which was the first commercial trip from SC I have the schdeule pamaplet also will scan and put it online soon. On sat went to the meeting and opening of MMTS at SC and after all the members including Nitish Kumar, LK advani etc spoke the MMTS was opened.
The first VVIP train started at 11.55AM.
I then went home and came back to SC at 14.30 hrs.
The MMTS counter was packed with many people desiring tickets to Hi tech city and lingampalli which were only 50 min by MMTS but 90 min or more by bus showed the desperation of people for comfortable and fast transport systems.
I managed to get a ticket costing Rs 8.00 to LGI(lingampalli) at 15.00 hrs, and then went to the train on platform 6A. Where the VVIP rake had come back from Sanjeeviah park and was waiting there to leave at 15.25 I met the motorman and took a snap of the cab of the EMU which is the same as all other EMU models except for a recorded station announcement system.
These EMU's have Air suspension and this provides a smooth ride.
I got a seat at the window and waited for the train to start which started late by almost 20 min I took shots of the interior which I will post soon. Then the train started out from SC and there was great roar from the people in the train as it was a landmark event.
We left SC smoothly and reached james street in about 2 min where again we again were greeted by more rush and more whistling and cheering from the crowd and also from onlookers who came to see the emu.
Soon we left Sanjeeviah park and Begumpet and nature cure hospital behind and reached speeds of 60 kmph then after Fathenagar we picked up speed and raced through SNC at around 70 + kmph where all the crews of goods trains were happily waving to us as we sped past, it was a festive atmosphere.
After crossing Bharathnagar we crossed the first EMU to HYB from Lingampalli which was greeted by an uproar as we crossed on opposite tracks, then we swiflty gained speed and reached around 70 kmph to Borabanda where there was a massive crowd waiting to board, we then sped to 85 kmph between Borabanda and Hi Tech City and the ride was smooth. After a stop of 30 sec we sped towrards Hafizpeta bringing back memories of rail fan trips made previously and how I and Shanky had to plan programmes based on only 4 trips made by trains from HYB now it was 28 min away from SC and HYB with a frequency of one hour from HYB and SC and half an hour from BMT.
We then went to Chandanagar and reached Lingampalli, with great fan fare.
The train reached LGI with great fanfare and again a tussle to get tickets in the return direction and I luckily managed to get a ticket to HYB right in time before the train left I was to go to HYB to meet my uncle and cosuins and ride MMTS again.
There was a WDG4 waiting for clearence beacuse of MMTS road no 12004 with a freight load of coal,then proceded back to HYB in the local and again the same response on the way back and crossed the SC-LGI MMTS at Bharathnagar and with great cheering and fanfare raced through SNC and went to Necklace Road where a platform is just coming up and there was 10 sec stop of the train there and also at Lakdikapool.
Reached HYB 5 before schedule arrival and just hopped of the train and just saw my uncle coming to the train with onward and return tickets from HYB to LGI and back !!!!!!
Gleefully I jumped into the train and everyone including my cousins who also came for the their first MMTS ride were mighty thrilled to see the beautifull MMTS rake .
We then started off and proceeded to lakdikapool and then KHR and BMT then we picked up speed and reached Hafizpeta outer where we crossed a MMTS to SC.
Then we had a major line fault and the DJ tripped and left us without power for 3 min or so then the DJ was reset and we speeded away towards LGI. LGI was reached on time and as we had return tickets we boarded another coach and had a great and fast ride till hafizpeta where the train was stopped to allow the LC gate traffic to pass and we then went 15 min late to bmt and this carried on till HYB .
An end to a almost 80 km MMTS ride in a few hours.
A final note on the MMTS ticketing. When I got of at HYB I took a MMTS season pass the First Day from SC to BMT. But in the excitement that I took the pass I forgot to check that got a pass from HYB to BMT which I checked 15 min later, I rushed back to the counter and told the MMTS staff that I was given a wrong season ticket and I asked them to cancel it and they said they could not help me as the next serial no of the ticket had been issued. I requested the clerk and he went to the CRS and confirmed that it could be cancelled as the MMTS computer terminals had a database of all stations on the route and he cancelled the pass and charged Rs 10 for a new pass and I was very happy with this as he saved me 100/-Rs, and all the counter staff were very polite and decent with public even under pressure.
MMTS trains between HYB and SC will come when the SC-FM strecth will be opened and as of now only 4 MMTS rakes are in service with more coming soon with automatic doors and a few more refinements.
I will take the MMTS photos with my cousin's digital olympus and put them up asap and also the MMTS brochure also with shots of the driving cab.
Hope you enjoyed the report I will try and post weekly MMTS trip reports whenever possible.
| Code | Name |
|---|---|
| BMT | Begumpet |
| FM | Faluknama |
| HYB | Hyderabad |
| KQD | Khairatabad |
| LPI | Lingampalli |
| SC | Secunderabad |
| SNF | Sanathnagar |