The development activities meant to take the railway projects to a rung higher have remained non-starters in Tirupati, while some others have been remaining on the back burner.
The guage conversion project undertaken at the city railway station completed a decade ago, despite being proven to be a boon, brought down the number of platforms from six to five. This number, by any count, is far from meeting the requirement, given the huge inflow of more than 50,000 passengers and the number of trains passing through the station. This leads to stagnation on the platforms and parking of trains for hours together on the outer, causing serious dislocation of time schedule. Andhra Pradesh Sampark Kranti and the Secunderabad-Tirupati double-decker trains are among those which bear the brunt of inordinate delay.
Further, space shortage has been a perennial problem for the Tirupati railway station. Attempts to develop the southern entrance are yet to bear fruit, though the authorities have purchased two acres at an exorbitant price. Facilities such as apron cleaning unit, yard, pit line, coaching depot and etc. take a lot of space, which hamper the expansion project. “Chandragiri station, located 10 km away from here, has vast property up to 40 to 50 acres and it can house these back-end facilities,” suggests M. Venugopal Reddy, Chairman of the Tirupati Development Action Committee (TDAC).
