Rail projects put on back burner again

Rail projects put on back burner again
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Highlights

The railway projects of Mahbubnagar district are once again kept on the back burner. The Railway budget, which is declared on Thursday, has literally offered nothing to the district. The efforts of the local Member of Parliament, A P Jithender Reddy to secure funds for the pending and fresh projects did not yield the desired results. 

Mahbubnagar: The railway projects of Mahbubnagar district are once again kept on the back burner. The Railway budget, which is declared on Thursday, has literally offered nothing to the district. The efforts of the local Member of Parliament, A P Jithender Reddy to secure funds for the pending and fresh projects did not yield the desired results.

Mahbubnagar district accounts for annual revenue of Rs 13-16 crore to the Railways and district has only about 190 kilometer stretch of rail line. From the Mahbubnagar town, thousands travel to Hyderabad and other cities such as Kurnool, Bangalore and Raichur. Only a single line that is connecting Bangalore with Hyderabad via Mahbubnagar is serving the entire traffic. The line hasn’t even been electrified so far.

Due to the heavy rush, the passenger trains have to wait for long hours during the crossings to give way to superfast trains. Because of the waiting, most of them end up running 4-5 hours late. Because of this problem, people of this district have been eagerly waiting for the doubling of the line between Hyderabad and Mahbubnagar.

Quite a few representations have been made to the Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu, seeking the completion of the doubling works between Hyderabad and Mahbubnagar and grant of new projects between Jadcherla-Nandyal, Macherla-Gadwal and Krishna-Vikarabad.

If these projects are taken up, the entire district will have train connectivity and people can have access to cheaper travel facilities. In fact, the doubling project was sanctioned during the Mamata Banerjee’s tenure and Rs 5 crore was sanctioned for a survey. During 2015-16, Railways sanctioned another Rs 27 crore to pay salaries to the survey staff.

The doubling line is to be constructed from Falaknuma to Mahbubnagar along the stretch of 88 kilometers. If this project is completed, the travel time between Mahbubnagar and Hyderabad will be reduced from present two and half hours to 90 minutes.

The proposed Krishna-Vikarabad line will connect many towns of the district, which include Maganuru, Makthal, Utkur, Narayanpet, Abhampur, Maddur, Surjkhanpet, Doma and Paragi. If this project is completed, it will enable a lot of cement companies to establish their base in the district and would create a lot of local employment. The initial estimation of the project cost was Rs 87 crore for a length of 145 kilometers, but due to the delay, the cost has escalated now to a whopping Rs. 2009 crore.

The Gadwal-Macherla line which was proposed way back in 1992 was surveyed and initial estimate cost for about 184 kilometers was of Rs 180 crore, however, it has not yet been taken up and now the escalated cost is Rs 3600 crore. This line can connect Gadwal, Wanaparthy Nagarkurnool and Kalwakurthy constituencies.

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