The much awaited MMTS-Phase Two of suburban train services of the South Central Railway (SCR) is finally likely to see the light of the day as it is set to be green flagged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he is tentatively scheduled to arrive in Secunderabad station for the launch of the second Vande Bharat express towards temple town of Tirupathi on April 8.
Senior railway officials, pleading anonymity, have disclosed that the SCR will be commencing commercial operations of the train services connecting the suburbs from the next day on the completed sections of Secunderabad-Medchal-Malkajgiri and also from Falaknuma-Umdanagar, which is about six kilometres from the international airport at Shamshabad, with the available rolling stock.
One section of the 100 km MMTS Phase Two project estimated to have costed more than ₹1,100 crore — 6 km of Tellapur-Ramachandrapuram — has already been opened in 2019. The only remaining section where the work is yet to be completed is between Sanatnagar and Moula Ali where due to objection from the local military authorities, the construction was halted for a few years, they said.
MMTS Phase 1 of 44km jointly taken up by the State government and SCR began commercial services in August 2003 and over a period of time the services were increased connecting Hyderabad-Secunderabad-Falaknuma-Lingampalli. More than five lakh people used to travel in 121 services before the COVID pandemic.
The SCR has been running truncated services ever since the services were re-launched in 2021 and this is expected to be maintained in order to connect the new stations on Phase Two making use of the available local trains rakes judiciously. The Centre had allocated ₹600 crore in this year’s budget even as the TS government is yet to release substantial pending amount of about ₹500 crore having signed a pact to share 2/3rdof the cost.
Stone for other works
The Prime Minister will also be laying the foundation stone for the Secunderabad station modernisation and launch the Secunderabad-Mahabubnagar doubling-electrification line. It is not yet finalised if the public function will be at platform No. 10 for waving the green flag for the Tirupathi bound Vande Bharat train which is likely to start in the morning to reach Tirupati in late afternoon, in return it will start in the afternoon to reach in the night here.
The new Vande Bharat train, second after first one was launched towards Visakhapatnam on January 15, is expected to traverse via Miryalaguda, Guntur and Gudur sections akin to the Sabari Express. While the railway authorities have begun preparations, Mr. Modi is also likely to address a public meeting at the Parade Grounds later. But final word about the date is yet to come from the PMO office, insisted senior railway officials.
