Rail Budget 2014: AP, Telangana get 5 high-speed trains, no new projects
Hyderabad: In a paradigm shift in the Railway Budget this year, AP and Telangana, including all other states, have not got a single new project as the focus has been shifted to completing pending projects.
The two states together have 29 pending projects at the cost of Rs 20,600 crore. The prioritised projects have been rationally given a good amount of funds rather than spreading resources over a large number of projects.
Read: Rail Budget 2014: Top priority to better facilities
Of the 43 new express trains announced in the Railway Budget presented on Tuesday, 11 will either originate or pass through the South Central Railway zone crisscrossing both states. However, the issue of a separate railway zone found no mention.
Meanwhile, five high-speed trains have been proposed for AP and Telangana, taking the total number to 26 new trains including 15 trains that were announced in the interim budget in February.
Of the five high-speed trains, two will be introduced to connect Hyderabad-Chennai and Secunderabad-Nagpur. A new weekly express train will start between Visakhapatnam and Chennai.
Read: Rail Budget 2014: Two high speed routes in South Central Railway zone
An AP Express train connecting Vijayawada-Delhi and a premium train between Secunderabad-Nizamuddin are among the new trains to be introduced.
Also, a survey will be launched to study 18 new railway lines in both states and a commission will be set up on completion of pending projects.
“Two of the nine high-speed rail routes announced for Indian Railways fall under the SCR Zone, namely Hyderabad- Chennai and Secunderabad-Nagpur.
While introduction of “Bullet Trains” was very much on the radar of the Railway Board, fine-tuning corridors and improving speeds between 160 and 200 km per hour will significantly enhance the journey and reduce duration,” said SCR General Manager, Mr P.K. Srivastava.
Read: Rail Budget 2014: Milk, veggies to get special trains
Speaking about the issue of a new railway zone, the official said that keeping in tune with Railway Minister, Mr Sadananda Gowda’s announcement, a joint committee of Indian Railways and state government officials will examine all issues concerning Railways in the two states and submit a report.
There are 29 ongoing projects in AP and Telangana, at an estimated cost of Rs. 20,680 crore. Of these, 10 new lines are coming up in the former state and eight in the latter; both states had three projects each involving electrification, doubling and tripling of lines.
“Five of them overlap both states. In addition, there is one project each, across Maharashtra-Telangana and Karnataka-AP,” added the GM.
