Secunderabad still lies in wait for a better station, MMTS-II

Apart from escalators and Wi-Fi facilities, nothing much has been done about the project to transform the Secunderabad railway station into a world-class one.

“The project is very close to the hearts of locals. It was first mentioned in the 2009 Rail Budget that the Secunderabad station would be developed into a world-class facility. Though the railway ministry included it in the 2012 Budget too, efforts to make it a global-level facility have not yielded results. Tenders were called twice but none qualified,” said Mr Sardar S. Sodi, a resi- dent of SR Nagar and regular train traveller to Warangal.

There are many challenges in redeveloping the station.

“You need extensive land on all sides. The Railways is planning to leverage real estate, land and air space which would be used to develop malls, food plazas, currency exchange counters, retail outlets, Internet cafes, car rentals, pre-paid taxi booths etc.,” said a former SCR official.

Another important project to decongest city roads, the MMTS PhaseII, has also been delayed. Union minister of state for labour and employment Bandaru Dattatreya blamed the Congress-led UPA government for not allocating funds to complete this project.

“About `200 crore needs to be allocated for completion of at least one of the sectors of MMTS Phase-II by 2017. The second-phase work on the Multi Modal Transportation System is progressing simultaneously in all the five stretches in Greater Hyderabad. MMTS Phase-II covers 103 km at an estimated cost of `819 crore,” he said.

SCR general manager Ravindra Gupta stressed on the need to prioritise rail projects, setting deadlines and attaining them so as to ensure economic viability and timely commissioning.

RVNL officials said that on the existing 14km Moula Ali-Ghatkesar double line stretch, two more rail lines were being laid for MMTS trains.

As many as 16 major bridges are coming up in MMTS Phase-II, work on 11 of these is under way. Besides, of the 133 minor bridges planned, 46 have been completed.

The MMTS and Suburban Train Travellers Association said they were expecting budgetary allocation for the construction of terminals at Vattinagulapalli and Cherlapalli. They also wanted another terminal at Moula Ali or Malkajgiri to be developed into a major facility.