SECUNDERABAD STATION GETS `282 CRORE

South Central Railway general manager Vinod Kumar Yadav said the Union Budget had allocated `282 crore for the redevelopment of Secunderabad railway station and `194 crore for the Vijayawada station.

He said the projects were being taken up on the modified Swiss Challenge method. He said the project would seek to involve state governments, Central government wings, and global experts.

At Secunderabad, the railway will take up commercial development works in 96,243 sq.m., including 10,896 sq.m. in station area, 41,832 sq.m. on platforms and 43,515 sq.m. in the circulating area.

Entry and exit points will be developed along with segregation of arrival and departing passengers.

The stations will get a pharmacy, ATM, drinking water, Internet, retail shopping, hospitality, food courts, automated vending machines on platforms for food and water and and integration with other modes of transport. There will be a separate route for movement of parcels.

The stations will have drop and pick-up facility for parking of vehicles and multi-level parking.

This is part of the railway ministry’s plan to redevelop 23 stations in the phase-1. The redevelopment would be done by the Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation, which is a special purpose vehicle of the government of India, designed to develop new stations and redevelop existing Indian railway stations.