Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy on Wednesday directed officials to ensure that the state gets as many as 35 new trains as part of its efforts to get the maximum possible benefits in the Railway Budget to be presented by Union Minister for Railways Mamata Bannerjee.
This was revealed by Minister for Transport Botsa Satyanarayana after he emerged from a meeting chaired by the Chief Minister to review the status of railway lines which were announced by the Railway Ministry in the previous year’s budget.
Mr Satyanarayana told media persons that Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy will bring the requirements of Andhra Pradesh to be included in this year's Railway Budget during his visit to Delhi where he will meet Ms Mamata Banerjee.
The Chief Minister also will discuss the issues of Kazipet Wagon Workshop, Transforming Tirupati into a World Class Railway Station etc, with the Railway Ministry.
Railway officials informed the Chief Minister that out of 21 trains announced in 2010-11 budget, 16 have already been introduced and 4 trains are to be introduced soon.
The Tirupati-Secunderabad bi-weekly express, Secunderabad-Manuguru tri-weekly express, Tirupati-Nellore and Hyderabad-Kolhapur bi-weekly express are the ones expected to be introduced soon.
The State Government in coordination with the Railways has proposed as many as 35 new trains for the Railway Budget 2011-12.
Of this, 17 are Mail and Express trains, 8 Commuter trains and 10 MMTS.
The Chief Minister will prioritise these projects along with other demands when he takes up the issue with the Railway Minister.
Mr Satyanarayana revealed that surveys would be conducted to provide land to the Railways so that implementation of the new railway projects could be speeded up. He said that the government has received complaints from the Railways that non-allocation of lands was the reason for the delay in implementing the new projects announced in the Railway Budget.
Referring to the threat by Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao to disrupt the Racha Banda programme, Mr Satyanarayana said that the scheme was aimed to benefit the common man.
He added that KCR could well concentrate on pushing the demand for separate statehood rather than disrupting a welfare programme.
Apart from Mr Satyanarayana, South Central Railway General Manager MS Jayanth, Chief Administrative Officer (Construction)SK Sharma, Chief Passenger Traffic Manager, Bharath Bhushan, Special Chief Secretary to Chief Minister J Satyanarayana, Secretary to Chief Minister, Jawahar Reddy, Engineer-in-C, R and B, Siva Reddy and other officials attended the meeting.