The ₹430 crore Cherlapalli railway station, which is scheduled to become the fifth passenger terminal for the twin cities, is likely to be ready in the next few weeks with three trains already beginning to have halts since Thursday.
South Central Railway (SCR) official spokesperson informed on Saturday that Charlapalli is strategically located on the eastern side of Hyderabad and near the Outer Ring Road (ORR) and is expected to reduce congestion on other existing rail terminals besides serving passengers living on that side of the capital region.
Currently, trains in Hyderabad – Secunderabad twin cities region are mainly served by Secunderabad, Hyderabad and Kacheguda railway stations while Lingampalli on the western part was developed as another terminal station. A new station building with modern architectural facade is being constructed to handle the passengers with six booking counters, separate waiting halls for ladies and gentlemen, an upper-class waiting area and an executive lounge on the ground floor.
First floor will house a cafeteria, restaurant, and restroom facilities for both ladies and gentlemen. The design will feature spacious concourse areas and a modern elevation with illuminated facade lighting. There will be four additional high-level platforms, while the existing five platforms have also been extended to accommodate full length trains.
Two new foot over brides – one 12 metres wide and another 6 metres wide – to facilitate seamless inter-platform movement are under construction while all the nine platforms will be connected with escalators and lifts. It will also have coach maintenance facilities for facilitating starting of trains from the station. Parking for two and four wheelers, bus bay, signages, electronic display of trains movement and CCTV surveillance are part of the package, said the press release.
