Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy welcomed the Railway Budget 2011 – 12 tabled in the Lok Sabha on Friday, describing it as a common man’s welfare Budget.
The Chief Minister thanked and expressed deep sense of gratitude on behalf of people of the state to UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Minister for Railways Mamata Bannerjee.
The Chief Minister has appreciated the Railway Budget for the concessions announced for the physically challenged persons to travel on Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains for proposed Pradana Mantri Rail Vikas Yojana for 114 socially desirable projects, facilitating press correspondents to avail 50 per cent concession and for creating a separate sports cadre in the Railways to encourage the young talent in the Country.
Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy also recalled the services of MPs from the state and thanked them for their efforts in getting new sanctions and projects for the State. He expressed hope that in near future many more projects will be allotted to Andhra Pradesh State.
The Railway Minister has sought to strengthen the suburban system of Hyderabad-Secunderabad by implementing six projects under MMTS Phase-II. All the socially desirable projects which have been surveyed recently, will be included in the 12th Plan and financed through the proposed Pradhan Mantri Rail Vikas Yojana.
The new trains announced are Secunderabad- Visakhapatnam AC Duronto (Tri-weekly) and Shatabdi Express (Pune – Secunderabad).
The Express trains are Tirupati-Amravati Express (bi-weekly) via Akola, Nizamabad, Gooty, Dharmavaram, the Visakhapatnam- Koraput Intercity Express (5 days a week) via Vizianagram, the Howrah-Secunderabad Express(weekly) via Kharagpur, Hyderabad- Darbhanga Express (weekly) via Muri-Jharsuguda-Nagpur, the Howrah – Tirupati Express (weekly), Narsapur- Nagarsol Express (bi-weekly) via Secunderabad, Nizamabad, the Digha-Visakhapatnam Express(weekly) and the Howrah-Visakhapatnam Express(weekly).
Apart from these, the Tirupati- Guntakal Passenger (daily), the Falaknuma-Medchal Passenger and the Mriyalguda-Nadikudi, the Kacheguda-Raichur Passenger. The DEMU trains are the Raichur-Gadwal, the Nizamabad-Secunderabad, Kacheguda-Mriyalguda, and the Falaknuma-Bhongir MEMU trains.
Apart from these, in Secunderabad area, it is proposed to run 10 additional services on Falaknuma – Lingampalli, Lingampalli – Hyderabad, and Hyderabad –Falaknuma sections.
Additionally, the run of the Visakhapatnam-Nizamabad Express to Nanded, the Sambalpur- Nizamabad Express to Nanded and the Hyderabad- Wadi Passenger to Gulbarga has been extended. Apart from these, Secunderabad -Bikaner Express’s frequency has been increased from weekly to bi-weekly.