AP gets 8% more in Railway Budget this year

Hyderabad: With regard to Andhra Pradesh, this year (2018-19), the budget allocation is Rs 3,670 crore, which is 8 per cent more than the allocation of Rs 3,406 crore during the previous year 2017-18. While the investments in Railways is Rs 1,46,500 crore in 2018-19 as against  Rs 53,989 crore in 2013-14, the share for AP is far from satisfactory, say Railway Union leaders.

Notable allotments include augmentation facility for Periodic Over Hauling (POH) of LHB coaches in Tirupati at a sanctioned cost of Rs 37 crore, development of Minimum Essential Facilities for LHB coaches at Vijayawada and Machilipatnam at sanctioned cost of Rs  6.50 crore and augmentation of Wagon Depot capacity for Routine Over-Hauling of Freight Wagons in Vijayawada at a sanctioned cost of Rs. 6.61 crore.

In Andhra Pradesh, 12 new ROBs and 15 Road Under Bridges/subways at a cost of Rs 703 core, with Railway share of Rs. 310 crore and state share of Rs  393 crore, have been sanctioned. For Road over/under Bridges (Road Safety Works), the budgetary grant is Rs 400 crore, as against Rs  325.4 crore for 2017-18, which is 23 per cent more.

An amount of Rs 200 crore was allotted for Obulavaripalle–Krishnapatnam new line project (Andhra Pradesh). The project was sanctioned in the year 2005-06 for a distance of 113 km with an estimated cost of Rs 733 crore. The section between Krishnapatnam – Venkatachalam for a distance of 20 kms commissioned and it is targeted to complete Venkatachalam - Obulavaripalem section, a distance of 93 Kms in 2018-19. 

The Guntur–Tenali doubling project was planned to be completed in 2019. The project was sanctioned in the year 2011-12 for a distance of 24 kms with an estimated cost of Rs 147 crore. An amount of Rs 40 crore has been allotted for the project. The expenditure incurred on this project during the last 3 years is Rs. 118 crore.