Hyderabad, is the capital and largest city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. 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 modern transportation facilities. Though due to its presence in inland, on the Deccan Plateau waterways through sea is not possible.
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Hyderabad, owing to its geographic location is considered to become the hub of aviation industry in India. The new and modern airport at Shamshabad replaced the old Begumpet Airport, on March 23, 2008. The new airport provides the much needed infrastructure to handle large aircraft, heavy international passenger and cargo traffic. The airport is considered as one of the best in the region with world-class facilities. The airport is spread over an area of 5,400 acres (22 km2) and currently has the longest runway in India. The airport was developed to cater to a total of 12 million passengers a year and has a capacity to handle 40 million passengers a year when fully developed.
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.
Hyderabad is well connected to many other locations in India, such as Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Nagpur, Chennai, Pune, Vishakapatnam 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. Indian National Highways NH-7, NH-9 and NH-202 pass through the city. The city is also part of the North-South Corridor. 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.
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 [1] of about 160 km is being built now and will be complete by 2011. 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.
Nationally, Hyderabad is considered among the important railway cities. The South Central Railway is headquartered at Secunderabad.
The four main railway stations for Hyderabad are
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 Secundrabad and Nampally stations.
Hyderabad has an extensive bus service operated by APSRTC inside the city[2] and to various places across the country. The Mahatma Gandhi bus station or the Imlibun bus station as it is locally known, was once the largest bus station in Asia. It is now the third biggest station in Asia. Other major bus stations include Jubliee bus station (JBS), Dilsukhnagar bus station. The APSRTC 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.[3]
APSRTC has several kinds of services like
City Seetal an air-conditioned luxury bus where as Metro Deluxe and Metro express are luxury and semi-luxury services respectively, and have fewer stops allowing a faster commute at a marginally higher price
In addition to APSRTC neary one hundred minibuses are being operated in the twin cities[4] 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.[5]
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 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.
The government of A.P 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:
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.
Boats have been bought by the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Department and are available on the banks of Hussain Sagar Lake in the city for parties as well as for small groups. There are two to three large boats with restaurants on board. In addition some boating and sailing events are conducted on the lake occasionally.