Tirupati station upgradation works gather momentum

Tirupati: After the Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw shared the details of Tirupati railway station redevelopment works with photos of model buildings in his twitter handle, the contractor has begun works and which are now going on at a brisk pace. The ambitious project of Tirupati railway station development, which was pending for several years, has not gathered momentum giving strong hopes of completing the entire project by the targeted deadline of February 2025. As the Rs 300 crore works have been undertaken under Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) mode giving a time frame of 33 months, the onus of completing them within the stipulated time rests on the contractor. The works are being monitored at all levels so as to ensure timely completion of the project.

As per the upgradation plans, a new station building is coming up on the South side of the existing station building. After completion of Geological Survey, setting-up of camp office, concrete lab and storage sheds, remaining works have continued to move in a fast manner. The concreting of foundations has been totally completed for the new upcoming station building. So far, about 7,450 cubic meters of concrete has been used in foundations, columns of basement floor and retaining wall.

In the next phase, the work related to centering and shuttering of concrete slab for the basement floor has commenced and is progressing briskly.

Almost 20 per cent of the work has already been completed. An underground water tank with a capacity to hold 29 lakh litres of water is to come up as part of the new station building. For this, both excavation works for construction of underground tank and concreting of its foundations has also been completed.

Two New Air Concourses are planned to be constructed as part of the upgraded Tirupati Railway station to handle both incoming as well as outgoing passengers. These air concourses will be of 35 meters width and will connect all the platforms of the station and also both sides (North as well as South) of the station buildings.

The excavation for concreting of foundations of Air Concourses on PF No 4 and 5 has commenced and is progressing swiftly.

SCR General Manager Arun Kumar Jain stated that the upgradation works of Tirupati station are being monitored regularly so that the work is not hampered and it is completed within the targeted time.

He also stated that the works are taken up with utmost caution to ensure least inconvenience to the passengers and train movements in the station.