Title - Tirupati station to get a facelift

Railway officials moot second entrance to ease congestion

The Tirupati railway station is all set to get a facelift. This was indicated during the visit of a five-member committee led by Chief Commercial Manager P. Ganeshwar Rao on Friday.Reviewing the developmental aspects and status of existing passenger amenities, the committee members from various departments went around and enquired about the changes that could be incorporated to make the station better. The plan to develop a second entrance to the station on the southern side got a boost with many members stressing its importance to ease congestion. “The steady flow of pilgrims can be efficiently managed if a second entrance can be opened on the south side. This would give access to the second and third choultries of the TTD on the DR Mahal road for which talks with TTD are on,” a senior official said. As the private landholders are quoting exorbitant prices, the Central government will have to step in to take up the acquisition process, a member opined.They felt that the existing capacity of waiting halls and lodgings were grossly insufficient to cater to the needs of people and that the RPF and RMS services would have to moved out to create additional space. Besides, the members coordinated the construction of two additional lines – platform and non-platform lines. The committee comprised Chief Engineer (Track maintenance) Achyuta Rao, Chief Communication Engineer Gandhi, Engineer S.K. Gupta and others.