HYDERABAD: Union Minister for Coal and Mines G Kishan Reddy has announced that the newly developed Cherlapally satellite terminal station in Hyderabad will become operational in November. He was speaking to the media persons, at Rail Nilayam on Thursday, along with SCR General Manager Arun Jain about railway development projects and the demands of new work to be taken up by legislators.
The minister said that the rail manufacturing unit at Kazipet, Warangal will be constructed by December 2025 at an estimated cost of Rs 680 crore. “The target is to manufacture 600 coaches annually,” he said.
Kishan Reddy revealed that the recently announced extension of MMTS from Ghatkesar to Yadagirigutta (under phase II) was done despite the state government’s cooperation.
“The previous BRS government would give its share of funds for the phase II part of MMTS as it is a joint project but the current government has not come so far to contribute its share. So, the new line has been extended by the funds of SCR. We are in constant touch with the state government regarding the dues,” an official told TNIE.
Meanwhile, when asked about the occupancy rate of Vande Bharat trains from Telangana Kishan Reddy told TNIE, “The occupancy of all the Vande Bharat trains running from Telangana is good, except the newly launched Secunderabad-Nagpur train. We are trying to resolve that issue as well at the earliest.” The minister also noted that 90% of the electrification work of the tracks has been completed in the SCR zone.
Arun Jain stated provision of automatic block signalling along with the installation of the latest version of Kavach (4.0) has been sanctioned between the 742 km long Balharshah-Kazipet-Vijayawada-Gudur at Rs 959 crore.
“We have successfully deployed the Kavach system across 1,465 km and phase one of the installation has been completed in the SCR zone. Now, we are inviting the tenders for the second phase of the project,” he said and added that SCR was the first zone to test the efficacy of the Kavach 3.2. As per officials, over 6,000 route km fall under the SCR jurisdiction.
Noting that works worth Rs 32,000 crore are undergoing in the SCR zone, Arun Jain said the rail projects worth Rs 5,336 crore to Telangana were allocated in the Union Budget 2024-25.
He said 346 km of new railway lines have been commissioned over the past 10 years. He added that sanction has been given for the construction of bypass lines at Peddapalli, Nizamabad, Vishnupuram, Vikarabad, Tandur, Hasanparthi and Pagidipalli at Rs 1,097 crore.
"There is a need for the RUBs at three places in Mahbubnagar to avoid traffic congestion. Also, I have asked to speed up the construction of and new line from Mahabubnagar to Tandur, Jadcherla to Nandayal and Jadcherla to Miryalaguda. I have also asked to extend the MMTS till Shadnagar," said DK Aruna, Mahbubnagar MP.
"I have requested for new lines to Armoor, Adilabad, Bodhan, Karimnagar and Tirupati from Nizamabad districts. I have asked for the timing audits of the local trains in Nizamabad district and across the state as it is found to be in a very irregular way," stated K Suresh Reddy, BRS leader.