Corridor IV or the Airport Line is a proposed line serving Hyderabad as part of the Hyderabad Metro rail network in the city. The line spans 36.6 km (22.7 mi) and starts at Nagole and ends at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport going through crucial areas such as LB Nagar, Owiasi Hospitals, Chandrayangutta, New High Court, and Shamshabad. There are 24 stations of which 23 are proposed to be elevated with the Airport station being the only underground station. Its current proposal includes connections with Blue Line at Nagole, Red Line at LB Nagar and Green line at Chandrayangutta.
After the opening of Phase-I one of the major complains which arose was the crucial areas of Nagole and LB Nagar not being connected despite Nagole and LB Nagar being the terminus points for the Blue and the Red line respectively. The state government looked at the options of extending the metro from Nagole to LB Nagar, however this proposal was soon rejected by the central government citing low ridership expectation.[1][2] This was soon criticized by the state government with the government alleging favouritism over metro project approvals causing tensions between the two. [3][4]
In addition during the same time there were rising calls for metro connectivity to airport. For this reason on 26 March 2018, a special purpose vehicle company, Hyderabad Airport Metro Limited (HAML), was established by the Government of Telangana to develop the Hyderabad Airport Metro Express.[5][6] Later the government released tenders for the construction of the line and aimed to began construction in 2024. However, following the change of the government due to the 2023 Telangana Legislative Assembly election, Revanth Reddy put the line on hold and ordered a redesign of the line. He later announced the airport express line was being put on hold and introduced the metro Phase-II where a new airport line was designed which started from Nagole instead of Raidurg. The line would connect the highly requested Nagole LB Nagar route and extend towards Old city and finally the Airport.
Finances
Unlike Phase I, which followed a Private-Public-Partnership between Larsen&Turbo and the government of Telangana, the government of Telangana decided to pursue a Joint-Venture with the Indian Central Government for Phase II of Hyderabad Metro. Out of the required money which will be contributed by the government the State government will contribute 50% of the investment while the central government too will contribute 50% of required investment. The remainder money will be borrowed from various banks at a low interest rate.[7] The total cost of the Phase-II is estimated to be Rs 24,237 crore.[8]
Stations
Interchanges
Passenger interchange facilities, connecting to other metro and railway lines, will be provided at the following stations: