The South Central Railway (SCR) will be building brand new Yadadri station building for the upcoming ₹430 crore 33-km MMTS suburban train extension from Ghatkesar. The new station building will be coming up on the eastern side as part of the MMTS extension while the existing station on the western side is also being taken up for upgradation under the ‘Amrit Bharath’ station scheme.
SCR General Manager Arun Kumar Jain informed on Thursday after conducting an inspection with his senior officials that tenders for the existing station redevelopment has been awarded and works to be taken up include construction of cover over platforms, facade development and building improvements among others.
MMTS Phase - II extension from Ghatkesar to Yadadri was sanctioned in 2016-17 with an estimated cost of ₹330 crore. The project involves laying of additional line between Ghatkesar to Yadadri (Raigir) for 33 km., apart from the existing two lines.
The project also includes provision of additional infrastructural facilities at stations and yards at Ghatkesar, Bibinagar, Bhongir and Yadadri. The work is being executed by RVNL and was originally planned as a joint venture with the Telangana government - but now, Railway Board has decided to take up the entire work without government assistance with revised cost estimate, he explained.
There is an opinion among the officials that building the new station closer to the Yadadri temple would be much better as it would mean pilgrims need not travel on road again to reach the destination. “The line is anyway going to be quadrupled up to Yadadri from Ghatkesar, so it makes sense to the line towards Yadadri further ahead and leave the main lines free for traffic movement,” said an official.
Mr. Arun Kumar Jain said completion of both the works will give a major fillip to the important temple town station through the higher train connectivity to pilgrims.
RVNL chief project manager Munna Kumar, DRM-Secunderabad A.K Gupta and other officials were present.