Development of Tirupati west station hangs in uncertainty

Tirupati: After the South Central Railway (SCR) and Minister for Railways have made a big announcement on the ambitious plan of developing Tirupati railway station with world-class amenities, the development of Tirupati west station is still hanging in uncertainty. Though railway officials have given several assurances, there was no concrete step ahead in this regard. While Tiruchanur station development is in completion stages, there is no clarity on how the west station will be used for the future requirements.

Even after the development of Tirupati main station, terminating some trains in Tiruchanur and West stations on east and west sides respectively may become necessary to decongest the traffic. The officials have proposed long back to run most of the trains coming from Katpadi side up to West railway station and from Renigunta side up to Tiruchanur station. Though there is a vast land available at the station to take up any development work, officials are not implementing the plans. In 2017 itself, Railways entered into a MoU with National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) to execute development works at Tirupati west station following which they completed a survey to make better use of available site. But no further progress since then and it seems all the proposals were put in cold storage. It was learnt that there were some technical issues in developing the west station and unless a policy decision is taken, this project may not move forward.

The denizens in the western parts of city particularly in the areas of Vidya Nagar, LS Nagar, SV Nagar and other areas were demanding halt to express trains at West station. But the demand was never conceded by the railway officials citing the reason that the minimum number of tickets for passenger trains are not being sold there.

A native of LS Nagar said that, if express trains are given halt at west station, passengers can board and deboard trains here only to go to various destinations. But the officials were not interested in this. Another person commented that if trains from Katpadi direction are stopped at west station, passengers can get down there to go to Alipiri via Cherlopalli which can even reduce the traffic burden in the city. He urged the public representatives to take up the issue with railway authorities and clear all hurdles in developing the station.

Meanwhile, Tirupati station Director K Satyanarayana said three pairs of passenger trains are now being stopped at the west station. Though these trains were stopping earlier, after Covid pandemic, now the facility is resumed again. Accordingly, 07659, 07660; 07656, 07655; and 07661 and 07662 passenger trains between Tirupati and Katpadi will stop at west station. Ticket issuing facility for the above trains is also provided there.