Unmanned level crossings will go by September, says SCR GM

The South Central Railway has set an ambitious target of eliminating all unmanned level crossings by September, said General Manager Vinod Kumar Yadav here on Friday.

“Safety stands top of our priority list. The SCR zone is on the verge of declaring zero unmanned level crossing zone by September 30 this year. Of the 268 unmanned level crossings in the zone, we have just 100 left. Guntur Railway Division is doing far better as it has just 20 left,’’ Mr. Yadav told media persons after attending the 15th anniversary day celebrations of the Guntur Railway Division.

The GM also said that major railway stations in the State, including Guntur, Vijayawada, Tirupati, Nellore and Kurnool, were being developed on a par with the best in the world.

The railway station at Tirupati is being completely renovated and developed.

Guntur station would have a complete makeover with a new façade and addition of several passenger amenities.

Modernisation

The railway yard would be completely modernised to facilitate the movement of more number of trains, he said.

In Guntur, a new foot overbridge would laid and two escalators would be set up on platform no 1. A new platform would be added to the existing seven platforms and a new lift would be set up for differently abled people.

A multi-purpose waiting hall, a business lounge with facilities like free wifi and plug-n-play and a mini conference room would be created.

This year would see grounding of important projects taken up in the division. The electrification of Guntur-Guntakal railway track extending up to 441 km, doubling of the Guntur-Tenali railway line, electrification of the Tenali-Repalle would be completed by the year-end.

The Nadikudi-Kalahasti railway line was being laid at a rapid pace and all bottlenecks in matters relating to land acquisition has been removed.

Divisional Railway Manager V.G. Bhooma said that the division has achieved several mile stones in this year, including winning the platinum shield from Indian Green Building Council for greenery, GM shield for outstanding performance and cleanliness etc.