Celebrating Hyderabad with a table calendar

Hyderabad Metro Rail brings out a theme-based calendar on two landmark railway symbols -the Nizam’s Guaranteed State Railway and Hyderabad Metro Rail

Railway network and Hyderabad go a long way dating back to 1870 when the Nizam Guaranteed State Railway (NGSR) was flagged off. As Hyderabad stands on the cusp of celebrating its 425th anniversary this year, a table calendar highlighting the past iconic NGSR and the Hyderabad Metro Rail, which is on its final bend to be thrown open to the people soon, is brought out by the Hyderabad Metro Rail.

Conceived and designed by NVS Reddy, MD, HMR and art curator Kali Konduro, the desktop calendar features rare pictures of the Nizam-era rail engines, the iconic Secunderabad, Nampally and Kachiguda railway stations along with metro rail coaches, swanky stations and panoramic views of the metro rail.

Packed with nuggets of information on the history of both railways, such as dates and investment with catchy titles like `a tale of two railways`, `grand old ladies and elegant debutantes`, `sprawling rail corridors`, `efficient feeder networks`, `investing for a better future’,’ engines of growth`, the calendar captures ones imagination.

The Nizam built the Nizam State Railway of 1,373 km across entirely from his own private funds, then costing a princely sum of Rs 7 crore. The 72 km metro rail on the other hand is being developed with private investment of upwards of Rs 14,000 crore in public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

Both projects are similar in more ways than one; the world sat up and watched as the NGSR became a reality and now the HMR has already bagged the ‘Global Infrastructure Project of the Year (2013)’, in New York. Technology wise, too, the NGSR was way ahead of its time and the Hyderabad Metro Rail for the first time in India brings the Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) signaling technology.