Hyderabad, Sep 10 (IANS): As many as 4 lakh passengers availed the Hyderabad Metro Rail on Ganesh immersion day on Friday.

Hyderabad Metro Rail officials said on Saturday that a large number of people attending immersion celebrations in different parts of the city availed the service.

This is the highest daily footfall after Covid-19. The Metro had extended train services for the convenience of devotees attending the celebrations.

Metro stations at all the three corridors saw a huge rush of passengers. Over 2.46 lakh passengers availed the services on Miyapur-LB Nagar corridor while Nagole-Raidurgam corridor witnessed footfall of 1.49 lakh.

A total of 22,000 passengers travelled on the JBS-MGBS corridor.

Among all stations, Khairatabad handled maximum passengers as it was the nearest point for those attending the immersion procession at Hussain Sagar lake and also those offering last puja to the tallest Ganesh idol at Khairatabad.

This station saw the exit of 40,000 passengers and entry of 22,500 travellers.

The average daily ridership on Hyderabad Metro is about 3.78 lakh while it was over 4 lakh before Covid-19.

In view of immersion festivities, Hyderabad Metro had extended operating hours till 2 a.m. The normal operating hours are 6 a.m. to 11.15 p.m.

Hyderabad Metro Rail, said to be the world's largest public-private partnership project, covers 69.2 km on all three corridors.