HYDERABAD: Tirupati and Nellore railway stations would be developed into world-class stations with separate levels for departures and arrivals to segregate passengers, hotels, food plazas, shopping complexes and other facilities.
The Tirupati railway station will be developed at an estimated cost of Rs 450 crore. Besides building the proposed eight-storeyed hotel, there are plans to construct food plaza. “In SCR limits, Tirupati will be first railway station where works for world-class station will start,” he said.
The two railway stations will be developed in public-private partnership mode, while five more would be developed using government funds.
When the SCR invited tenders for developing Secunderabad and Vijayawada as world-class stations, private players backed out as the land was leased for only 40 years. “The Railways had taken a decision to increase the lease period to 90 or 99 years. But the same was yet to be cleared by the Cabinet,” SCR GM Vinod Kumar Yadav said.
As the project was taking time, the SCR planned to develop seven stations, including Tirupati and Nellore. They will be developed under joint venture (JV) mode by Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) and National Building Construction Company (NBBC), he added.
The development of five other railways stations such as Guntakal, Kurnool, Guntur, Warangal and Vijayawada, would be taken up at an estimated `15 crore each for developing circulating area, facade, to construct foot-over bridges (FoBs) wherever required and improving waiting area.
The funds for the project will be provided by government.