SCR gets budget boost of Rs 5071 cr for State

Hyderabad: The three multi-modal economic corridors that were announced in the interim Budget will soon ease the congestion in the South-Central Railway Zone. On Friday, SCR announced that the zone has been allocated a staggering amount of Rs 14,232.84 crore for the year 2024–25 for the two Telugu states, compared to Rs 13,786.19 crore for the year 2023–24. Telangana has been allocated Rs 5, 071 crore, which is 14.7 per cent more than the previous year.

While presenting the Budget allocation for SCR, Arun Kumar Jain, general manager, SCR, stated, “There has been a steady increase in the funds allocated to Telangana in successive budgets in recent years. Compared to last year, two additional Doubling Projects and Bypass Lines for different stations have been sanctioned, including the Doubling Project between Bhadrachalam Road - Dornakal and Aurangabad - Ankai, and a capital outlay of Rs 2,905.91 crore has been allotted. Meanwhile, Rs 1,184.14 crore has been allocated to new line projects. A budgetary grant of Rs 224.59 crore has been allocated to complete the remaining non-electrified sections over SCR, and a budgetary grant of Rs 790 crore has been allotted for customer amenities.

Currently, works are underway in the remaining section, which is Sanath Nagar to Moula Ali Doubling with Electrification, and it will be completed in this current financial year, provided the State government coordinates, as it is a cost-sharing project. Arun Kumar Jain emphasised three major economic railway lines that comprise energy, mineral, cement, port connectivity, and high traffic density corridors, saying that this will help to improve logistics deficiencies, decrease costs, and reduce congestions in both Telugu States, as the SCR zone is the highest cement loading railway and that there are many ports in Andhra Pradesh. Also, when it comes to high traffic density corridors, zone GDPT routes such as Secunderabad-Kazipet, Secunderabad-Wadi, and a few other routes, these three corridors would benefit the zones and bring significant changes.