Title - Land scarcity hits effort to upgrade Tirupati Rly station

Tirupati: The South Central Railway General Manager GN Asthana said that upgrading Tirupati railway station to international standards is not feasible due to constraints in land acquisition process. The availability of procurable land has posed a great problem and there is a lot of confusion over the land agreements between various departments, he added.

He held a review meeting with TTD chairman, Executive officer, local MP and other officials regarding the development of infrastructure and basic amenities at the railway station here on Friday. He had detailed discussion about the construction of new buildings in place of TTD’s second choultry and additional entrance and exits at southern side to ease the traffic congestion at the railway station.

Later, briefing the media persons Asthana said that though there are proposals to upgrade Tirupati railway station to international standards but there is no assurance from any department regarding the allocation of land. In this backdrop, the plan to upgrade the railway station is not possible, he added.

When asked about the creation of separate railway division at Tirupati, he replied that there are similar demands from twenty places under SCR limits and there are constraints in taking the decision on policy matters. Of course, after creating a division, certainly we can expect few benefits, but it is not such an easy task, he stressed.

In the meantime SCR will develop infrastructure at Tirupati station including providing escalators, permanent drinking water, increasing ticket counters and enquiry centres, he said. Already SCR had already given orders to China based company for manufacturing modern escalators and they would be set up in the station soon, he said.

SCR is planning to construct an extra pit line to the existing five pit lines at Tirupati station and one at Renigunta station, he said. Apart from this, SCR would attach additional general coaches during the peak traveling seasons, he said.

A foot bridge would be constructed connecting railway station and TTD’s Vishnu Nivasam for the convenience of passengers soon, coin operated platform ticket, vending machines would be installed, he said. Ministry of Railway has focused on the railway station and it is thinking to introduce regular service to Shirdi from Tirupati, he replied.

TTD chairman K Bapiraju said that TTD would lay down a special pipeline to Tirupati station to provide Telugu Ganga drinking water, which may permanently resolve acute water shortage problem if railways bears financial aid. The SCR General Manager positively responded to the proposal.

Few developmental works would be initiated at West Railway Station also, GM said. Chittoor MP Dr N Siva Prasad also attended the meeting.