A senior official said that the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited has been asked to take up a feasibility survey which would take five months to provide railway connectivity to Amaravathi, the new capital of Andhra Pradesh.
"This work (rail connectivity to Amaravathi) has been sanctioned for survey in the current budget. RVNL has been assigned to undertake the survey on priority basis so that we can get the report in least possible time. I am hopeful that within the next four to five months the survey would be over," South Central Railway General Manager Ravindra Gupta said.
"Once the survey report is available with us, we will forward it to the Railway Board so that it can take the decision on the basis of the findings of the survey," Gupta said, adding the rail connectivity will cover Vijayawada, Guntur and Amaravathi.
He also said a new railway workshop for overhauling of wagons is coming up at Kazipet (in Warangal district of Telangana) and the work has already been assigned to RVNL. Rs Rs 290 crore has been sanctioned by the Railway Board for the project.
"We had discussion with the state government for allocation of land for this project and once the land is made available to us I am hopeful that we would be able to complete the project within 30 months," the GM said.
Among the new initiatives, the SCR GM said development of Cherlapalli as the alternate rail terminal for twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, has been sanctioned in the current budget.
"We need land for development of this terminal and I had a meeting with Telangana Chief Secretary (Rajiv Sharma) in this regard," Gupta said.
"We would like to develop the project in close association with the state government so that once conceptualised, it can meet the requirement of the city for the next 40-50 years," he said.
On SCR's proposal to provide direct Multi Modal Transport System (MMTS-local train) connectivity to GMR group-run Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad, Gupta said, "I think GMR does not want the connectivity to the airport. They say the terminal and rail line should be 4 km away from the airport. It does not serve the purpose." Asserting that all over the world it is the Metro which provides connectivity to the airports, he said, "Here also, I guess at some point or the other the Metro which is coming up would eventually look at providing connectivity." To a query that if MMTS connectivity to RGIA is not likely, Gupta said, "As of now there is no plan...we go by the views of the state government."
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