Good days ahead for Secunderabad, Vijayawada railway stations

​Hyderabad: Secunderabad and Vijayawada railway stations have been included in the list of 25 stations to be redeveloped in the Union Budget 2017. Talks of turning the Secunderabad railway station into a station of international standards has been on the cards for long.

Speaking to media personnel at the SCR headquarters at Secunderabad, newly-appointed general manager Vinod Kumar Yadav said that work on the two stations would begin in the 2017-18 financial year and tenders would be called for soon.

As part of the redevelopment plans, solid waste management plant at Secunderabad railway station is also planned.

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Highlights

• Service charge on e-ticket booked through IRCTC withdrawn. At present the charges payable for booking e-ticket for 2S accommodation is Rs 20 and all other classes is Rs 40 per ticket. About 2.6 crore passengers per annum on SCR would be benefitted.
• The budget outlay for Telangana for 2017-18 is Rs 1729 crore and for AP it is Rs 3406 crore
• AP government already signed a JV with SCR; proposals for a joint venture with Telangana government would be signed soon
• On Indian Railways, it is proposed to feed 7,000 stations with solar power. Over SCR, during 2016-17, 645 kwp capacity of solar panels have been installed with a 1961 kwp
• The total capacity and development expenditure for railways has been fixed at Rs 1,31,000 crore, this includes Rs 55,000 provided by the government from the budget
• For passenger safety, Rail Samrakshak Kosh will be created with a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore over a period of five years

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The contractors would be given a share of railway land for commercial purpose. “As the railway budget is merged with the general budget for the first time, the pink book that comprises all details of railway projects would be tabled in Parliament on February 3, 2017 and only then would a detailed plan for SCR be spelled out,” said Vinod Kumar Yadav.

The budget outlay for Telangana for 2017-18 is Rs 1729 crore against the last two years average of Rs 601 crore and for AP it is Rs 3406 crore, against the last two years average of Rs 2195.7 crore. This is being viewed as a big jump. For fast track development, a joint venture with AP government has been signed and a similar agreement with the Telangana government is on the anvil said Vinod Kumar Yadav.

The proposals have been sent to the Telangana government.It was announced in the budget that over Indian Railways, 3,500 km of new Railway lines will be commissioned in 2017-18 as against 2,800 km in 2016-17. During 2016-17, on SCR 267.25 km of new track was laid which includes 230.55 km of new line, 12.45 km of double line and 24.3 km of third line.

Bio-toilets
The SCR plans to fit 3,000 bio-toilets in the coming financial year. During 2016-17, 4,138 bio-toilets were fixed in 1,115 coaches. It was announced in the budget on Wednesday that by 2019, all coaches in Indian railways would be fitted with bio-toilets.

It was announced in the union budget that all unmanned level crossings would be eliminated by 2020. On SCR, there are 355 unmanned level crossings, out of which 170 would be eliminated in the current financial year.

In the last few years no new trains were announced in the railway budget with more emphasis on completing last mile projects and developing infrastructure. In response to the proposals sent by SCR to the Railway Board for projects to be taken up, the general manager said that the suggestions and proposals from MPs have been sent to the central government.

He added that since independence, it was the first time that the railway budget has been subsumed with the union budget and as a result the proverbial ‘pink book’ would be tabled in the coming days and the detailed plans for SCR would unfold then.