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South Central Railways garnered a significant slice of the railway infrastructure projects proposed in the Railway Budget 2011 presented by the Union Railway Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, on Friday.
New lines
The total infrastructure projects, including new lines and doubling of lines, for the zone were to the tune of Rs 3,666 crore, more than double that was sanctioned in the last three years.
“The projects include three new lines at a cost of Rs 1,766 crore, which will be implemented within the next three to five years,” Mr M.S. Jayanth, General Manager of SC Railways, told press persons here.
The new lines are: 24-km long Mellacheruvu to Janapahad (Rs 174 crore), 309-km long Nadekude to Srikalahasti (Rs 1,313 crore) and 45-km long Gudur to Durgarajapatnam (Rs 277 crore).
suburban railway network
In another significant development for Hyderabad city, the Budget proposed to strengthen the suburban railway network by sanctioning the phase-II development. “The investment for this project will be about Rs 640 crore. Two-third of the cost will be shared by the State Government,” Mr Jayanth said.
In regard to new services, the zone got a significant share in the Budget. “Usually, in the last five years, the zone secured on an average four to five new services. In the last Budget, we had a record 21 new services. This time we have secured 28 new services, which is quite significant,” he said.
The new services include a Duronto train between Secunderabad to Visakhapatnam, Shatabdi Express from Secunderabad to Pune and seven express trains, including Pune-Nanded (weekly), Tirupati-Amravati (bi-weekly) and Howrah-Secunderabad (weekly).
Wagon workshop
On the proposed wagon workshop in the zone, he said land has been identified and after the land acquisition, the Board will start the tendering process. The project is being development on PPP model. “We expect to complete the Rs 200-crore project within three years,” he said.
The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, welcomed the Railway Budget, especially the concessions announced for the physically-challenged persons to travel on Rajdhani or Shatabdi trains. He was also happy that 114 socially desirable projects were proposed under the Pradhan Mantri Rail Vikas Yojana.
Mr Shekhar Agarwal, President, Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Fapcci), said private sector involvement in the network with initiatives such as setting up wagon factories would further enhance and deepen public-private partnership for the development of the railway network.
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