7 New Railway Projects In Pipeline

Minister of State for Railways, KH Muniyappa said on Monday that the railways will take up 7 new projects in collaboration with the state government.

Talking to media persons, Muniyappa said that the Government of Andhra Pradesh had agreed to bear 50% of the cost in principle of these projects.

The projects are MMTS Phase-II (82.8 kms), Nadikude - Srikalahasti new railway line (309 kms), Bhadrachalam Road – Kovvur new railway line (151 kms), Manuguru - Ramagundam new railway line (199 kms), Gadwal – Macherla new railway line (233 kms), Vijayawada – Narsapur & Gudivada – Machilipatnam doubling and electrification of railway line (175 kms) and Guntur – Tenali doubling and electrification of railway line (59 kms).

The Kadapa-Bangalore new railway line project has been taken up in right earnest. A total of Rs.109 crores has been allocated for the project, out of which the state government has released Rs. 40 crores as its share.

Tenders are being called for undertaking works, the Minister informed. Muniyappa stressed on the fact that the Railways are willing to spend about Rs. 600 crores during the current financial year in the State, but the same could happen only if land acquisition is speeded up by the state government. This will help timely completion of the projects, thereby avoiding cost escalations due to delays, benefitting the railways, as well as the state government.

With regard to construction of Road Over/Under Bridges in the State, he stated that there are 75 such bridges being taken up, out of which 22 will be completed by March 2011.

The Minister spoke of the priority given by Minister for Railways Mamata Banerjee, towards ensuring that all unmanned level crossings on Indian Railways are manned by 2014-15, so as to negate the loss of lives due to mishaps at these crossings.

Earlier, Muniyappa called on Chief Minister K Rosaiah at Secretariat, Hyderabad and held a meeting jointly with the officials of South Central Railway and the state government.

The meeting deliberated on various issues concerning intervention of state government, particularly related to land acquisition, so as to complete railway projects in AP in time.

The Chief Minister directed that the issues be immediately addressed. SCR General Manager S Jayanth, who was also present in the meeting stated that Andhra Pradesh ranked the foremost in terms of extending cooperation to the railways as exemplified by its participation in undertaking various railway projects on cost-sharing basis.

Rosaiah handed over a cheque of Rs. 22.9 crores to Muniyappa towards AP government’s share for procuring coaches for the MMTS services in Hyderabad.

Courtesy: INN