South Central Railway (SCR) has announced on Monday that the doubling of the 29.7 km section between Umdanagar - Shadnagar, which is a crucial portion of Secunderabad - Mahabubnagar doubling and electrification project has been completed and commissioned.
This acts as a major step forward in enhancing the rail connectivity between Hyderabad and Mahabubnagar, Kurnool, Anantapur, Bengaluru, Kadapa, Tirupati etc., towards south. The project is being executed by the Railway PSU Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), said senior officials in a press release.
Secunderabad – Mahabubnagar project is one of the critical projects for Telangana and was sanctioned for a distance of 85 km in 2015-16 at an estimated cost of ₹774 crore. The section between Secunderabad – Umdanagar for a distance of 28 km has been excluded in the above project and is undertaken as part of MMTS Phase I &II and was already completed.
The balance section between Umdanagar – Mahabubnagar has been progressing at a fast pace, out of which the section between Shadnagar - Gollapalli for a distance of 29 km was done. With this, continuous stretch between Secunderabad - Gollapalli for a distance of 88 km would be having double line facility while works on the portion between Gollapalli - Mahabubnagar for a distance of 25 km are progressing well and nearing completion, the release added.
All the five existing stations in Umdanagar – Shadnagar section like Umdanagar, Timmapur, Kothur Halt, HBL Nagar Halt and Shadnagar have been developed and provided with essential passenger amenities with new buildings with modern signalling facilities with advanced interlocking system. The Kacheguda - Chengalpattu special express was the first train which passed on the newly built line.
General Manager Gajanan Mallya said that traffic congestion in the existing single line section between Secunderabad – Dhone would now be eased and this would pave the way for more transition of both freight and passenger trains from Secunderabad upto Gollapalli, the release added.
