A Ride to Shamshabad Intl Airport, Hyderabad

[TrueDreamer]

Hello,
This evening was free for me and on the way back, i encountered a Easy Cabs taxi (Mahindra Logan) and got the idea to ride to Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad. I remember the news article today in Deccan Chronicle by M. ROUSHAN ALI (quoted below) about the long journey to airport.

Riding / Driving to the airport would eat up to an hour and half from Sec'bad. I started at 5 PM today and reached Shamshabad airport at 6:15 PM

Though the statistics of GMR and GHMC say that the distance from Begumpet Airport to new Shamshabad Airport is 35 Kms, it is not so. I started monitoring from Tarnaka X Rds and the distance to airport parking was ~40 Kms.

Road Taken:

Sec'bad Rly Stn -> Mettuguda X Rds -> Tarnaka X Rds -> Habsiguda X Rds -> Uppal X Rds -> Sagar X Rds -> Karmanghat (Inner Ring Road) -> Taken Left at Owaisi Hospital Jn (Owaisi Nagar Rd) -> Baba Nagar -> Past DRDO Township -> Katedan IDA -> Take Right when the signboard says to take right into NH7 - Going straight you will reach Srisailam) -> [From here onwards you have signboards guiding you] -> Go along to Shamshabad -> Take Hard Left from NH7 into Airport Road (Under the Under Construction Flyover) -> Cross two round abouts (keep going straight) in the airport road -> Airport Parking Lot and Reverse.
I must say there is no mention about the route directions for the new airport until we pass Baba Nagar (in this route) I just followed the way where the roads were 3 to 4 lanes on each direction and reached safe. Thanks to my stars

Something about the roads and traffic junctions:

Roads are being widened from Sec'bad Rly Stn. to Mettuguda X Rds currently. The demolition of properties had already been completed in most of these places and the demolition work is in progress after Habsiguda X Rds. Roads become 3 lane on each side after Mettuguda and this further expands to 4 lane on each side once you cross Uppal X Rds on the LB Nagar, Nagole Rd. You can enjoy upto 3 lane on each side on the entire route except at small parts of the old city where the demolition work had just completed and laying of road is pending. About 6 to 8 Traffic Junctions increase the travel time.

Its great to see good roads leading to airport but most of these road users had two wheelers without any road sense (lot of scooters esp. in old city) and were having no clue about lanes and road sense. Added to these morons are the 7 seaters in some parts. I must say the cabs and other private taxi operators (Thank god not many Indicabs). The Logans, Innovas, Qualis and other players were great and everyone following the lane discipline esp. on NH7.

Travel Time and Speeds & FE:

It took me 1 Hour and 25 minutes to reach Parking lot of the new airport from Sec'bad Rly Stn. I was aiming at maximum mileage as this was unplanned trip and i did not fill up today and was running in the reserve. Did not even carry the wallet and even one of my mobile had lost its charge and got switched off en route and had only the bike with the documents and another mobile with incoming facility. I averaged about 40 to 45 Kmph and maxed to 60 Kmph on one decline (downhill). Except for NH7 and few places in the good roads i feel this speed is the best to maintain if riding as even going faster would keep you along with the traffic doing 45 Kmph. I got another ~75+Kmpl on my Victor on the entire route.

About the Airport:

I could see more number of people coming to airport are just sight seers and not those to fly. Also you have car parking and bike parking free till this month end or so so you need not worry about the parking.

The parking has ample space with different sections for each class of automobile. There are divisions (Car Bay 1 - Economy, Car Bay 2 - Premium, Taxi Parking, RTC Parking, Cargo Carriers, Two Wheeler Parking) lots.

The Runway as you know is the largest and there are two two lane roads (both one ways) to the departures section for the passengers to be dropped (just like in the Begumpet and other airport ones). If you come by cab, you can make use of the elevators (not for visitors. visitors need to use the ramps on the right side).

There are wheel chairs and other assistance available for the handicapped. There is a coffee day outlet and you cant see a place without the cab in the airport. The entrance looks like you have been to some place in Australia. This greenfield airport is said to have been constructed (including upcoming phase 2) on 5000 acres of land (including the public roads).

The GMR Security are quite helpful. Can't comment on the passenger facilities yet, as the visitors are not allowed into the Departures section without a ticket today.

GMR officials say that there are a large number of visitors pouring in due to the mass publicity and hype in media and also as they are not collecting user charges in the first week of the launch.

Overall Rating to GMR : 9/10
Overall Rating to GHMC: 7/10 (for no directions to airport)
Overall Rating to NHAI : 10/10
Overall Rating to R&B : 6/10 for not having proper lane markings and clean tar roads at places and delay in laying the roads.

I took the same route to return back and it took me the same time even this time.

Originally Posted by M. ROUSHAN ALI in a news article today (25/3/08) in Deccan Chronicle

It is quite a long ride to the new airport at Shamshabad; long enough to make you want to tear out your hair. That is what I could surmise after checking out whether a passenger would feel as cool as a cucumber after driving to the airport from the city. The answer is no.
Strictly speaking, the new airport is just 35 km away from Begumpet, but that is just for statisticians. I really felt as if I had driven more than 50 km. Heavy and slow-moving traffic, numer ous signals and unexpected bottlenecks on the inner ring road made me feel that I have been behind the wheel for a long, long time.
I started off at 10 am from Prakashnagar in Begumpet in a cheerful mood. It took me all of 90 minutes to reach the departure terminal at the new airport.
Despite tall claims by GHMC and R&B of improving connectivity by widening the IRR, I found that the route was congested. Even before I had travelled a km, I had to take my foot off the accelerator as the narrow road below the flyover at IBP point slowed down traffic. I inched along with other honking vehicles till the road widened and I could step on it. But just as I picked up 40-kmph, I was forced to slow down again at Pantaloons point where the road narrows and also links up with another internal road from the IRR.
There were no traffic cops at this spot and drivers had to find their own way in the confusing mess. A furlong from this point was the Hyderabad Public School main gate junction where I was again forced to stop. By the time I reached the Begumpet Road Over Bridge, I had lost all my illusions. I realised that I had to be pretty lucky to move beyond 40-kmph, and it turned out to be true.
It took me 30 minutes to reach Punjagutta crossroads, which is only 5 km away from Prakashnagar. From Punjagutta to Hyderguda, I had to negotiate nearly 10 traffic signals and all of them seemed to have decided to nag me to no end. To add to my rising frustration levels, autorickshaws zoomed back and forth with screeching horns.
I inched along with other cars from Begumpet to Hyderguda via Punjagutta, Banjara Hills, Masab Tank, Mehdipatnam, and Attapur. By that time, I had really understood the meaning of road rage. But I was saved at the nick of time from uttering an expletive. Once I crossed Hyderguda, the road opened up before me and I stepped on it. Finally, I could feel the wind in my hair. I almost thought that the joyride ended at Aramgarh junction, but I picked up speed again as I hit the National Highway-7. The sign board told me the airport was nine km away.
The speedometer hovered near 80 kmph as I covered the rest of the distance but I could not see the terminal even after doing nine km. Then I took a left diversion and finally reached the terminal. My arithmetic sense said that I had driven 16 km and not nine km. The return drive was much smoother since I knew what to anticipate. I took some shortcuts and avoided the Aramgarh junction to save time and distance. That offered some comfort to frayed nerves.

[akroy]

Nice update

If I do the same for Bangalore Airport frm my home or MG Road then probably my ratings will differ a lot

Abhi

[DriverR]

Good writeup. I think I'll also take a weekend trip to see the airport.

[vennarbank]

Thats a great write up and i love it the way you have described the traffic infotmation.

[indian21r]

The best part about the new airport is the road leading from Highways to the airport. The road is really beautiful to drive at night. You can easily touch speeds of 140 odd. Once all the sapling grow it would be an even better drive

[phamilyman]

Boss, be careful.

Our office innova had a pileup there only. A pig crossing the road (despite the ditch) wsa hit by an ikon whose radiator burst and came to a halt. We were right behind at 100+ and BANG! Don't speed there