Hyderabad, Feb 28 (IANS): The survey for the Hyderabad Airport Metro has been completed and peg marking of its alignment on the ground has started, an official said on Tuesday.

The Hyderabad Airport Metro Limited (HAML) has taken up the peg marking work for the 31-km long Metro, which will connect the city to Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad.

HAML Managing Director, N. V. S. Reddy said that apart from the traditional engineering peg marks on the road, aluminum boards with retro reflective sheet for night time visibility are also being embedded in the central median.

These boards indicate the chainage that is the distance of that particular point from the starting point of Airport Metro, he said.

While smaller size boards are being placed at every 100 meters as 0.1 km, 0.2 km etc., slightly bigger boards are being kept at every half a km. The boards are placed in the central median from Raidurg to Biodiversity Junction; and from IT Towers on Khajaguda road to Nanakramguda Junction where central median is available.

Reddy said that from Nanakramguda Junction to TSPA (APPA) the boards are being fixed on the footpath side as the service road on the city side of Outer Ring Road (ORR) is under expansion and as of now there is no central median in this stretch. However, Airport metro pillars will be located in the central median of the expanded service road between Nanakramguda Junction and TSPA Junction along the ORR, Reddy said.

Transferring the alignment onto the ground by peg marking will facilitate preliminary works such as marking of Airport metro pier (pillar) locations on the ground and taking up soil testing for determining the soil bearing capacity, designing of piers etc., he added.

The foundation stone for the Airport Metro, which will connect the information technology district Hitec City to Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad, was laid on December 9, 2022.

The 31-km long project will be built by the state government at a cost of Rs 6,250 crore.