Ahead of the presentation of the Railway Budget on Thursday, South Central Railway officials revealed that a whopping Rs. 14,583 crore is required for 26 ongoing projects under SCR’s jurisdiction that spans Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, parts of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
In Andhra Pradesh, among the most important projects is the 310 km-long Nadikudi-Srikalahasti line that is estimated to cost about Rs. 1,320 crore. With the AP government having given a firm commitment to contribute by way of free land, apart from bearing 50 per cent of the project cost, the process for acquiring land is already in progress.
Another important project that will be completed in about a year, if about Rs. 140 to 150 crore is allocated is the 126 km-long Nandyal-Yerraguntla line. So far, 68 km of the line has been laid and if the amount is released, there is a good possibility that it will be commissioned in about a year’s time. A majority of groundwork has already been done and only one bridge is needed over the Kundu river near Nandyal.
Coming to the newly-formed Telangana State, the project that is closest to getting completed is the Rs. 927 crore, 178 km-long Peddapalli-Nizamabad line that has come up till Armoor and has just 28 km to go. With land acquisition work and bridges already having come up, it only needs about Rs. 100 crore to be commissioned.
Another project that can be significantly taken forward in a year’s time is the 80 km-long Mahabubnagar-Krishna Station line. So far, only 15 km has been completed and a lot of land acquisition is pending. “Even if the entire amount is sanctioned at one go, it would take at least 3 more years to be completed,” said a senior officer.
The projects apart, expectations ride high on the creation of a new Railway Zone to bifurcate the AP part of the existing SCR. Two other points include the re-naming of the current AP Express to Nizamuddin (New Delhi) as Telangana Express and simultaneously introducing an air-conditioned AP Express to New Delhi from Vijayawada.
