Skywalk to connect Secunderabad railway station with Metro
Steps would be taken to facilitate provision of multi-level car parking at the Ganesh temple near the station.
Hyderabad: Union railways minister Piyush Goyal on Friday announced that a skywalk would soon connect Secunderabad railway station with the Hyderabad Metro Rail network.
The minister was speaking after flagging off the extension of the Kache-guda-Nizambad passenger train to Karimnagar on Friday afternoon at the Secunderabad station. “Secunderabad railway station would be connected to nearest Hyderabad Metro Rail point through a skywalk for the benefit of passengers,” Mr Goyal said.
Steps would be taken to facilitate provision of multi-level car parking at the Ganesh temple near the station. He said he would visit the area to find a suitable place for the parking facility after offering prayers at the Ganesh temple in Secunderabad; he said he was a Ganesh devotee. He said expansion of the Cherlapalli terminal would be taken up soon.
Telangana state would witness the best period of rail development in the last four years with capital Investment for rail projects rising from Rs 258 crore in 2014 to Rs 1,813 cr in the current fiscal, an staggering increase of over 600 per cent, Mr Goyal said.
The minister said the Mumbai LTT-Nizamabad Express would be extended to Karimnagar. The Peddapalli-Karimnagar-Nizamabad rail line project was sanctioned in 1994, but was completed in the last four years with budgetary allocations being increased in tune with its importance.
He said other major projects like the Jaggayapet-Melacheruvu-Janpahad and Manoharabad- Kothapalli lines were accorded high priority.
He said the provision to provide ffee Wi-Fi at 20 rural railway stations would bring about a communication revolution. He cited the example of the Gollapalli station where a government school adjacent to the railway station was able to access the free Wi-Fi signals, enabling teachers make use of the internet to augment student learning.
TRS MP K. Kavitha requested the minister to increase job reservation quota for physically handicapped candidates to four per cent. She also sought amenities at Nizamabad as accorded to A-grade stations.
Secunderabad MP and former minister Bandaru Dattatreya asked the Centre and the state take up Phase 2 of the Multi-Model Transit System (MMTS) in the city.
Mr Goyal said the Indian Railways had optimised usage of trains which would otherwise lie idle during the layover period after they reached the destination.
He said South Central Railway had become the first railway zone in the country to complete 100 per cent LED lighting at all 224 stations and 561 buildings, saving Rs 1.7 crore every year for the railways. He also stressed on the need to harness solar energy for a better environment.
Protesters seek separate Rly zone for vizag
A few men raised slogans in front of railway minister Piyush Goyal on Friday, demanding separate railway zone for Visakhapatnam.
The coveted separate railway zone with Visakhapatnam as headquarters is a long pending demand since the bifurcation of the state. A five-member committee of the Railway Board and Railway Ministry is expected to visit Visakhapatnam recently. After the committee makes an assessment and submits the report, the government will announce the formation of the zone, reports said.