Uttam Demands Bullet Train Between Hyderabad-Vijayawada

Hyderabad/New Delhi, March 13 (Maxim News): Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President & Nalgonda MP N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said Central Government consider starting high-speed or bullet train between Hyderabad and Vijayawada.

Speaking on the Railway Budget in Lok Sabha, Uttam Kumar Reddy reminded the Centre that an assurance was given to Telangana State under Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act for establishing a Railway Coach Factory at Qazipet. However, he said the promise has remained unfulfilled during the last six years. While asking the Railway Minister to clarify the Centre’s stand on the issue, he said for some reason if the government does not want to invest in the project due to shortfall of funds, then it might look at Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. He said that AP Reorganization Act was passed by both the House of the Parliament and therefore, it was essential for the Centre to honour the promises made in the Act so as to create employment and also to honour the sanctity of the Act.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the railway route between Hyderabad, Telangana’s capital, and Vijayawada, one of the capitals of AP, from the British time, takes the travel time of nearly six hours. Therefore, he said that the Railway Ministry should consider laying a new line from Chityal to Jaggayapet to run a high speed train from Hyderabad to Vijayawada. He siad Hyderabad- Vijayawada was one of the busiest routes in India.

He also demanded that passengers train be run on the track between Jaggayapet – Melacheruru – Mettapally – Miryalaguda which is presently being used only to run goods train. Referring to the presentation given by the Railway Ministry officials, he said there were two railway maps of India. One is quadrilateral map which connects the major cities and second is diagonal map. He said Hyderabad doesn’t figure either in the quadrilateral map or diagonal map where the railways take up accelerated projects. Being the 5th largest and fastest growing city, Hyderabad should be included in the diagonal project. He also demanded that a shuttle train must be run several times a day from Melacheruvu to Miryalaguda to Hyderabad and back. (Maxim News)