Cherlapally Railway Terminal to Be Opened in November, Says Kishan Reddy

Hyderabad: Union coal and mines minister G. Kishan Reddy on Sunday said most of the work at Charlapalli railway station for building the satellite terminal — being taken up at a cost of Rs 430 crore is over and will be opened up for passengers next month.

Speaking to media personnel after inspecting the construction work at Charlapalli on Sunday, the Union minister said the new terminal at Charlapalli, taken up at a cost of Rs 430 crore, will decongest the traffic at Hyderabad’s three major terminals of Kachiguda, Secunderabad and Nampally.

“Besides goods trains, 20 long trains will halt at the new terminal. The station has been provided with modern amenities and facilities such as an executive lounge, waiting halls, sleeping pods, cafeterias, restaurants, lifts, escalators, foot over bridges, EV charging points etc.”

Underlining the need to improve the connectivity from three sides of the new terminal developed in an eco-friendly model, Kishan Reddy said he had written a letter to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy asking him to lay 80-feet road towards Bharatnagar and Mahalaxmi and 100 feet road towards industrial areas. “The state government also agreed to take up the roads on a war- footing basis and a meeting with the state government and railway officials will be arranged shortly,” he said.

Arun Kumar Jain, the general manager of South Central Railway, said: "The Charlapalli station has been developed on the eastern part of the city to ease the congestion at the existing terminals and meet the increasing demand of train services in the twin-city region."

He said that the new station has been provided with nine high level platforms, two foot over bridges, five escalators and five lifts. "The project was approved in 2018 and the works have been progressing at a fast pace," he added.

Pointing out that the Centre had already laid 346 km of new railway line and doubling, tripling of another 369 km in Telangana, Kishan Reddy said the works for extending the MMTS trains to Yadadri will shortly begin.

The Union minister said that 40 railway stations in the state are being redeveloped under the Amrit Bharat station scheme. Secunderabad station is being redeveloped at a cost of Rs 715 crores and is targeted to be completed by the end of 2025.

The indigenously developed Kavach, an automatic train protection system installed in some routes in the SCR limits on pilot basis, have been giving good results and it would be extended in the remaining routes, he said.

He also said that the railways are also contemplating to introduce sleeper coaches in Vande Bharat trains, which will be introduced in a few more routes in the coming days.