Railway Budget: Trainload of optimism

Hyderabad: Chief Ministers K. Chandrasekhar Rao and N. Chandrababu Naidu have sought a bouquet of projects in the Railway Budget to be presented on February 25. Even as officials stay optimistic, experts and employees’ union leaders said that many of the projects, valued at Rs 34,579 crore, already sanctioned for Telangana and AP are either moving slowly or yet to start due to lack of funding. Even projects sanctioned 22 years ago — for example, the Peddapalli-Karimnagar-Nizamabad line — are yet to be completed. The high-speed bullet train proposal has remained on paper.

South Central Railway Mazdoor Union general secretary Ch Sankara Rao said injustice had been meted out to Telangana and AP over the last 15-20 years by successive Union railway ministers Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan, Mamata Banerjee, Jaffar Sharief and Mallikarjun Kharge, all of whom allocated projects and funds to their home states. “The main reason for the two Telugu regions losing out in the Railway Budget is the absence of their voice in the Union Cabinet. Though we have had ministers of state for railways like Bangaru Laxman, Bandaru Dattatreya and Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy, the junior ministers do not have the required voice. The State governments of TS and AP have failed to exert pressure on the Union government and the railway ministry to get projects and funds allocated,” Mr Sankara Rao said.

AP transport department special chief secretary B. Sam Bob said it was important to get rail projects sanctioned, as they would be completed eventually. The state government has to regularly follow it up with the railway ministry, he said. He said Mr Naidu had met Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu and sought allocation of Rs 740 crore for cross-sharing projects, in which the Centre and the state share costs. These include building railway lines on the Nadikudi-Srikalahasthi, Pithapuram-Kakinada, Guntur-Guntakal-Dharmavaram, Kotipalli-Narsapur routes and a third line on the Vijayawada-Gudur section.

Apart from this, Mr Naidu has lobbied for modernisation of the Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Rajahmundry railway stations, he said. He added that the 150-km Bhadrachalam-Kovvuru line was a priority for AP as it provides an alternative. Mr Chandrasekhar Rao has been pressing for the 151-km Manoharabad-Kottapalli line on which work has not started although it was sanctioned in 2006-07. “This line is planned in the backward region and is crucial to kickstart economic activity,” a senior TS official from the transport department said.

He said the government was seeking funds for the Manuguru-Ramagundam, Bhadrachalam-Sattupalli, Macherla-Nalgonda line and Mallacheruvu-Janpahad lines. The government was also asking for doubling of the Secunderabad-Mahbubnagar line and completion of the Peddapalli-Nizamabad line, in addition to city-based projects like MMTS Phase-II and new rail terminals.”

AP waits for a new rail zone:

From Union minister M. Venkaiah Naidu to AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, various power centres are lobbying for a new rail zone headquartered at Visakhapat-nam, currently in the South Central Railway.

Sources said that the ensuing Rail Budget might spring a surprise on this front. Transport special chief secretary B. Sam Bob said on top of the AP agenda is a rail line between Vijayawada and Guntur via Amaravati, apart from funds for the Metro.

Secunderabad still lies in wait for a better station, MMTS-II:

Apart from escalators and Wi-Fi facilities, nothing much has been done about the project to transform the Secunderabad railway station into a world-class one. “The project is very close to the hearts of locals. It was first mentioned in the 2009 Rail Budget that the Secunderabad station would be developed into a world-class facility. Though the railway ministry included it in the 2012 Budget too, efforts to make it a global-level facility have not yielded results. Tenders were called twice but none qualified,” said Mr Sardar S. Sodi, a resident of SR Nagar and regular train traveller to Warangal.

There are many challenges in redeveloping the station. “You need extensive land on all sides. The Railways is planning to leverage real estate, land and air space which would be used to develop malls, food plazas, currency exchange counters, retail outlets, Internet cafes, car rentals, pre-paid taxi booths etc.,” said a former SCR official. Another important project to decongest city roads, the MMTS Phase-II, has also been delayed. Union minister of state for labour and employment Bandaru Dattatreya blamed the Congress-led UPA government for not allocating funds to complete this project.

“About '200 crore needs to be allocated for completion of at least one of the sectors of MMTS Phase-II by 2017. The second-phase work on the Multi Modal Transportation System is progressing simultaneously in all the five stretches in Greater Hyderabad. MMTS Phase-II covers 103 km at an estimated cost of '819 crore,” he said. SCR general manager Ravindra Gupta stressed on the need to prioritise rail projects, setting deadlines and attaining them so as to ensure economic viability and timely commissioning.

RVNL officials said that on the existing 14-km Moula Ali-Ghat-kesar double line stretch, two more rail lines were being laid for MMTS trains. As many as 16 major bridges are coming up in MMTS Phase-II, work on 11 of these is under way. Besides, of the 133 minor bridges planned, 46 have been completed. The MMTS and Suburban Train Travellers Association said they were expecting budgetary allocation for the construction of terminals at Vattinagulapalli and Cherlapalli. They also wanted another terminal at Moula Ali or Malkajgiri to be developed into a major facility.