Smart railway station project hits roadblock in Tirupati

Tirupati: The smart railway station project here has been moving without any significant progress for almost two years. When the works were expected to take off, technical glitches coming in the way.

As the TUDA proposed to lay 80-ft road on the south side of the station which goes through the railway land where redevelopment works have to be taken up along with a 13-storey building, the railways stopped the project till the problem is solved.

Earlier, it was planned to start the Rs 500 crore works during June-July 2018 and then SCR General Manager and present Chairman of Railway Board Vinod Kumar Yadav had visited Tirupati several times to push the project. He held meetings with all stakeholders and finalised the proposals. The Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) and National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) were asked to take up the works under PPP mode for which tenders were also floated almost a year back.

These tenders were later cancelled due to technical snags. As part of its comprehensive development, Railways wanted to get a stretch of National Highway on north side of the station to be de notified.

The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had agreed for the same, but the process was not completed yet. The new state government has to clear this hurdle for which railways have been waiting.

Now, another hurdle came to the fore as TUDA proposed 80-ft road as part of its master plan on the south side of the station connecting Rayalacheruvu Road with DR Mahal Road. Due to this, the plan on the south side of the railway station will get disturbed as much of the land belongs to Railways and it was not willing to give the land to road.

It was learnt that SCR GM Gajanan Mallya has taken up the problem to the notice of AP Chief Secretary LV Subramanyam following which the Town Planning Director held discussions with Railway and TUDA officials in Tirupati on Saturday. Railway Architect Vinod Agarwal has presented picture of redevelopment plan in the meeting. He told The Hans India that, if 80-ft road has to be built there, Railways cannot take up the development works. There will be another meeting next week with Guntakal DRM on the issue.

If TUDA insists for the road, it can reduce the width to 40-ft or so to facilitate the railway project to go ahead.