Tirupati station to be upgraded with world-class standards

Tirupati: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw cleared all doubts over the redevelopment of Tirupati railway station and shared good news that it is on fast track and all contracts were awarded.

He tweeted the news along with the photos of model buildings. It is considered as a major step forward towards fulfilling the dream of all pilgrims who visit Tirupati, the abode of Lord Venkateswara to have a world-class station with all modern amenities. While the proposal was pending for long, changing the earlier plans, the Railway Ministry mooted a new plan for major upgradation of Tirupati station to integrate approximately 30 acres of station complex with other infrastructure and facilities to provide a seamless experience to the passengers. The works will be taken up on EPC (Engineering, procurement and construction) mode and are expected to be completed within three years.

The Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of South Central Railway (SCR) Ch Rakesh explained the salient features to The Hans India. He said that the development of the station building on the south side will be taken up with a basement and ground plus three floors. On the north side, a new building will come up with ground plus three floors.

Also, two air concourses of 35 mts wide will be constructed connecting the north and south side of the station building. The existing platforms will be improved and new cover will be constructed over the platforms. Under the proposed plan, a parking facility will come up at the basement in the south block which can accommodate 500 cars.

On the ground floor, departure concourse, arrival concourse, ticket counter and waiting lounge will be constructed on the ground floor of both north and south blocks. Common waiting hall area, female waiting area, food court, toilets and cloak room will be on the first and second floors of the south block. The air concourse will have a waiting hall, shops, food court and benches.

In the north block, the common waiting hall area, VIP lounge, toilets, cloak room will be accommodated on the first floor and the waiting hall, shops and kiosks will be there on the second floor. The third floor of both the blocks will have railway offices and rest rooms. The redevelopment plan proposes to set up 23 lifts and 20 escalators in all along with information display system, public address system, CCTV cameras, coach indication and train indication boards to cater the needs of passengers.

The in-charge general manager of SCR Arun Kumar Jain has instructed the officials to speed up the works and complete the entire process in the scheduled time limit. He felt that Tirupati station will have an elegant look once all the world-class facilities are provided and will be able to meet the aspirations of passengers in this crucial station.

Tirupati MP Dr M Gurumoorthy has represented Tirupati station redevelopment issue in the Lok Sabha on a number of occasions and met the Union ministers.

The efforts have yielded results and the railways has decided to take up the major upgradation of the station with Rs 300 crore. He felt that Tirupati station design should reflect the spirituality and will meet the Railway Minister again on this soon.