Secunderabad railway station is on course to get a complete makeover and works at the new terminal at Cherlapally are to be expedited, however, any hopes of the MMTS Phase-II getting commissioned this year have been dashed on Thursday.
This was as clear as a daylight in the virtual press conference of SCR General Manager Sanjeev Kishore along with senior officials to provide details of the ‘Pink Book’ presented in the Parliament as part of the Union Budget on allocations to the railways zone-wise.
“Except for a small section in Secunderabad-Sanathnagar due to land acquisition, most of the works of MMTS Phase II have been completed.
The project was taken up with the State government assuring to bear 2/3 rd cost, which has now grown to ₹765 crore, whereas it has paid ₹129 crore only. It is very difficult to commission the project without any fund release,” said senior officials.
Same goes with the Yadadri rail link where the blueprint is ready and the project can take off only when the TS government releases funds as it has assured to fund 2/3rd cost, they said. But, the long awaited redevelopment of the Secunderabad railway station is likely to take off with ₹325 crore allocated for it along with Nellore and Tirupati stations.
“All the designs are ready for Secunderabad station and tenders will be finalised once they are approved. It will be very difficult to say how much will be allotted to each station at this moment,” they said.
Tenders for taking up station buildings, ramps, escalators and other works have been finalised for Cherlapalli rail terminal and works will start soon, they added.
“We are committed to taking the infrastructure to the next level with qualitative work. SCR will be the hub for Vande Bharat trains where sleeper coaches too are going to be introduced. We are conscious of some projects affected due to State governments not releasing funds and land but we will try with renewed vigour to sort them out,” said the GM.
