Two years ago, the South Central Railway (SCR) has sought an immediate sanction of Rs.150 crore to commence MMTS second phase works on a priority along with procuring 12. Of course, it was not done as the Railways too did not bother to sanction any money.
The government, however, has been religiously granting close to Rs.25 crore to Rs.30 crore for the last few years with the assurance that more funds would flow once the Railways start the work. In case, the project gets a decisive ‘green signal' this year, one of the works is more likely to begin would be the Falaknuma-Umdanagar route.
The SCR has sought 74 acres doubling the lines - for new stations between Sanatnagar-Moula Ali, three new stations on Telapur-Patencheru and new lines. It has also sought 37 acres, exclusively for laying a line to the Shamshabad International Airport from the Umdanagar station free of cost. However, the airport operators have said that surface rail route would “disrupt” airport operations and “technically” not feasible for their “future expansion” and “logistics”. They had no objection to an underground metro, which was not financially feasible. Umdanagar station itself did not have sufficient land for development of passenger terminal plus the approach roads too were narrow, say senior officials.
In this scenario, a private firm has volunteered to share the cost with the government if the double railway line is taken to Ghansimianguda, which is about 6.5 km from the Umdanagar station. The site is also three kilometres away from the international airport . Senior officials say it would be worthwhile to study the proposal seriously by both SCR and the government as there was a dire need for developing an integrated terminal connecting to the airport. In fact, the IT Department has recommended MMTS extension to the airport since several IT parks, educational institutions and even a SEZ are coming up between Srisailam highway and the national highway.
