Railway Under Bridge gets state govt’s nod

Tirupati: In a major step towards fulfilling the dream of Tirupati people of getting a Railway Under Bridge (RUB) at Rayalacheruvu gate in the heart of the city, the state government has conveyed the concurrence for taking up the work.

This much awaited nod of the AP government was sent to the South Central Railway (SCR) authorities on October 15 paving the way for the Railways to take further steps in this regard.

The government also mentioned categorically that its share of Rs 9.44 crore will be borne by the Tirupati Urban Development Authority (TUDA) from its funds and asked SCR to coordinate with TUDA in the construction of RUB.

This RUB became crucial in Tirupati as it connects north and south parts of the city from a very key location. Though, the railway authorities came forward with the proposal of building a RUB there, it could not move further as the civic authorities has to divert the drainage from the level crossing area. SCR GM Vinod Kumar Yadav has met the Chief Secretary in August and discussed about this issue.

He visited Tirupati on Wednesday in the backdrop of latest letter from the government and held discussions with TUDA Chairman G Narasimha Yadav, who agreed to take immediate steps to divert the drain and to lay the approach roads. Speaking to the media in Tirupati, GM VK Yadav has made it clear that they were ready to take up the works once the drain is diverted and he expressed hope that the works will start in the next two months.

Efforts were on to eliminate all the 16 level crossing gates between Chandragiri and Renigunta stations in the next two years. Out of these, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will construct two ROBs and at the remaining 12 level crossing gates, Railways will build limited height RUBs. In a major development, there will be no unmanned level crossings in SCR limits after October 31 as the remaining 268 such crossings will be eliminated before that date.

Regarding Tirupati Station redevelopment, the GM said that the bids were already opened and were under scrutiny. In about two months, Rs 400 crore works will begin and will be taken up in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode. With this, entire South side of the station will get a new look and Tirupati station will have world class facilities keeping in view of the requirement for next 10-15 years.

One additional platform will be coming up at the station and after shifting the pit lines from there to West station, two more platforms will come into use. He said that passenger rush was increasing to Tirupati day by day and there was huge demand for more trains from pilgrim city but due to lack of platforms and other amenities that demand could not be met.

Redevelopment of Tirupati West station will also be taken up as the land is available there. All the maintenance works will be shifted to West station so that main station will get more space. The works of Tiruchanur station were progressing well and by March 2020 it will be completed.

SCR will construct a toilet complex at Renigunta station with locker facilities as many pilgrims visiting Tirumala wants to get fresh up and proceed without taking rooms. This will be built at a cost of Rs 70 lakh and to be carried out by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) under the corporate social responsibility.

Later, GM has inspected various amenities at the station. Guntakal DRM Vijay Prathap Singh, Senior Commercial Manager Rakesh, Station Director K Satyanarayana, Station Manager M Subodh Mithra and others took part. Former Tirupati MP V Varaprasad also met the GM and discussed about the development initiatives.