Work on the MMTS rail link from Umdanagar to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad, which has been included in the MMTS Phase-II but delayed for various reasons, will begin soon.
South Central Railway general manager PK Srivastava made this announcement at a press conference here on Monday.
He said the work on this line was delayed due to some issues between GMR, developer of the airport, and the railways and efforts were being made to resolve them.
“Once this line is ready, Hyderabad will be the only city in the country where rail connectivity to airport will be available,” he said.
Of the 6.5 km distance between the airport at Shamshabad and the Umdanagar station, about 2.5 km length of the track passes through the airport land which is controlled by GMR and as the track alignment cannot be finalised without identification of place for construction of a station the project is being delayed.
The Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), which has been entrusted with the work, invited tenders for the MMTS phase II works in April this year but the proposed rail link from Umdanagar station to the airport was missing from the tenders. In June, RVNL opened the tenders for taking up the MMTS Phase-II works in three packages involving an expenditure of Rs 365 crore. The MMTS Phase-II work has been entrusted to RVNL.
The project, estimated to cost Rs 819 crore, involves development of five MMTS stations, quadrupling and electrification of the Moulali-Ghatkesar section (14 km), doubling and electrification of the Moulali-Sanatnagar (23 km), Bolaroum- Medchal (14 km) and Falaknuma-Umdanagar (14 km) sections. The existing Secunderabad-Bolarum section (14 km) will also be electrified and a new rail line laid from Tellapur to Ramachandrapuram (4.5 km). The state government will bear two-thirds of the cost and the railways the rest. For the current financial year, the railways and the state government have sanctioned Rs 30 crore each for the work.