bullet train
Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav made a big announcement on Saturday and said that Hyderabad is soon going to become the new high-speed railway hub of the country. He told that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved three bullet train corridors for Telangana. These include Pune-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Chennai and Hyderabad-Bengaluru high-speed rail corridors. According to the Railway Minister, these projects will give a new impetus to the economy of entire South India and the connectivity between the states will be better than before.
Speaking to the media after the HYSEA GCCS and IT Roundtable program organized at Novotel Convention Center in Hyderabad, Vaishnav said that these high-speed rail projects will accelerate the urban development of Hyderabad and the city will become a major transportation hub of the entire region.
Budget of Rs 5,400 crore for railways
The Railway Minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a budget of Rs 5,400 crore for the railway development of Telangana. Due to this investment, work is being done at a fast pace on many big projects related to railways in the state. He also said that Telangana has got a big benefit from the electronics manufacturing schemes of the Central Government and more than 100 electronics companies have got a boost in the state.
Rejuvenation of railway stations is happening rapidly
Vaishnav said that the work of redevelopment of railway stations across the country is going on at an unprecedented pace. So far reconstruction of 261 railway stations has been completed. He said that Secunderabad, Begumpet and Hitech City railway stations in Telangana are being developed with modern facilities.
Giving the example of Secunderabad station, he said that in many countries of the world, train operations are stopped during the reconstruction of the station, but in India, keeping in mind the convenience of the passengers, the construction work is being done while continuing the operation of trains. Here a modern air concourse is being built above all the platforms.
Target to redevelop 1,300 stations
The Railway Minister said that for the first time after independence, a campaign for comprehensive redevelopment of railway stations is being carried out. He claimed that earlier only painting and minor improvements were done, but now a target has been set to give a modern look to 1,300 railway stations.
He said that the target is to complete the redevelopment of 400 railway stations by the end of this year and 700 by the end of next year. Besides, Begumpet and Hitech City stations are ready, while Warangal and Karimnagar stations are also ready. At the same time, redevelopment work is going on at a rapid pace at Hyderabad (Nampally), Kazipet Junction and Malakpet railway stations.
