South Central Railway chugs out with record allocation

HYDERABAD: The South Central Railway (SCR) has been graced with the highest-ever allocation of Rs 7,222 crore in the Railway Budget for the year 2021-22, as against Rs 7,024 crore for the year 2020-21. While the Budget has set aside Rs 1,144 crore for Nadikudi-Srikalahasti line project, Rs 325 crore has been earmarked for Manoharabad-Kothapalli project, Rs 267 crore for new line projects of Bhadrachalam-Sattupalli, Rs 149 crore for Munirabad-Mahbubnagar, Rs 83 crore for Akkannapet-Medak, Rs 333 crore for Kazipet-Vijayawada third line project and Rs 100 crore for Secunderabad-Mahbubnagar track-doubling project.

Allocation for doubling, third line and bypass line works amount to Rs 4,238 crore. For new lines, the total budgetary grant, including capital, deposit, extra budgetary resources etc, is Rs 2,195 crore. While the total budgetary grant for electrification works is Rs 617 crore, that for traffic facilities is Rs 173 crore.

Meanwhile, the new line project for Manoharabad-Kothapalli, sanctioned in the year 2006-07 for a distance of 151 km for a cost of Rs 1,160 crore, has been allocated Rs 325 crore. This is a cost-sharing project for which one-third of the cost will be shared by the State government and land for it will be given for free. The first phase of the project from Manoharabad-Gajwel (32 km) has been completed.
Rs 1,144.4 crore has been allotted for Nadikudi-Srikalahasti new line project. The project was sanctioned in the year 2011-12 for a distance of 309 kms for Rs 2,289 crore. 50% of the project cost is to be shared by the AP government and land is to be given for free. Works on the section between New Piduguralla and Savalyapuram (46 km) have been completed. Rs 100 crore for doubling of Sec’bad-Mahbubnagar line

In the meantime, the doubling project between Secunderabad and Mahbubnagar has been allocated Rs 100 crore. The doubling project was approved in 2015-16 (85 km) at a sanctioned cost of Rs 774 crore. 
The Budget has also set aside Rs 267 crore for the Bhadrachalam-Sattupalli new line project which is nearing completion. The project was sanctioned in the year 2010-11 (54 km) at a cost of Rs 928 crore. The project has been taken up jointly by Railways and Singareni Collieries. As per the agreement, land will be provided by Railways and expenditure towards construction will be shared by both the SCCL and Railways. 

Meanwhile, the Munirabad-Mahbubnagar new line project, sanctioned in 1997-98 (244 km) at a sanctioned cost of Rs 1,723 crore, has been allocated Rs 150 crore. Of the total 244 km, 66 km falls under the jurisdiction of SCR (TS) and the sanctioned cost for that portion is Rs 452 crore. The remaining 178 km belongs to SWR (Karnataka). The section between Devarakadra and Makthal (40 km) has been commissioned. 

The Budget has also earmarked Rs 83.6 crore for the Akkannapet-Medak new line project. The project was approved in 2012-13 (17 km) at a sanctioned cost of Rs 118 crore. 50% of the project cost would be shared by Telangana, with land being given for free. The third line project of Kazipet-Balharshah was allotted Rs 475 crore. Sanctioned in 2015-16 (201 km), the project cost was pegged at Rs 2,063 crore. Meanwhile, a total of Rs 50 crore has been allotted for development of Satellite terminal at Cherlapalli Station and Rs 2 crore for POH workshop at Kazipet.

Allocation for AP
While the Budget has set aside Rs 187 crore for Kotipalli-Narsapur new line project, Rs 36 crore was allotted for Kadapa-Bengaluru new line project. Sanctioned in 2008-09 (255 km) and a cost of Rs 2,706 crore, the Kadapa-Bengaluru project was envisaged with 205 km under SCR in AP and 50 km under SWR in Karnataka. Rs 1,200 crore was allotted for doubling and electrification of Vijayawada- Gudivada/Machilipatnam-Bhimavaram/Narsapur-Nidadavolu. The doubling project was sanctioned in 2011-12 (221 km) fr Rs 1,504 crore. Rs 800 crore was allotted for Vijayawada-Gudur third line project.

For electrification
Rs 175 crore was allotted for electrification of Manmad-Mudkhed-Dhone section (783 km). Budget also earmarked Rs 85 crore for electrification of Dharmavaram-Pakala section (228 km). While Rs 30 crore was allotted for electrification of Nandyal -Yerraguntla section (123 km), Rs 20 crore was set aside for Lingampet-Jagtial-Nizamabad section (95 km), Rs 90 crore for Parli Vaijnath-Vikarabad section (269 km), Rs 100 crore for Pipalkutti-Mudhked and Parbhani-Parli Vaijnath section (246 km) and Rs 85 crore for Purna-Akola section (209 km).

New Vij-Amaravati line gets only Rs 1,000
The proposed new line from Vijayawada to Amaravati, which has been pending approval from the AP government, was sanctioned Rs 1,000 to keep it alive in the pink book. Though SCR had approached AP to make it a cost-sharing project, they are yet to get a green signal