Railways, AP to form joint company for network modernisation

Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu says a comprehensive multi-modal transport solution would be evolved by integrating port, road, rail and air connectivity

Railway minister Suresh Prabhu today said the ministry would form a joint company with the Andhra Pradesh government to augment rail infrastructure and modernisation and development works in the state.

The issue, he said, came up for discussion during his recent meeting with Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu in the national capital.

“When the AP chief minister was in New Delhi three days ago, we decided to form a new joint company to satisfy the state-specific needs and demands,” said Prabhu, who was here for flagging off the weekly Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam AC Express and Nanded-Aurangabad weekly express.

According to him, “a comprehensive multi-modal transport solution would be evolved under it by integrating port, road, rail and air connectivity to ensure last mile connectivity.”

Prabhu said the same could also be taken up with the Telangana government and added the aspect would be impressed upon chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao at a future meeting.

State-specific requests for rail projects would not just be limited to the annual rail Budget, but the ministry was also ready to consider them throughout the year.

He said the rail ministry was examining the proposal for bifurcation of the Marathwada region network, currently falling under the jurisdiction of South Central Railway, and clubbing it with the Central Railway.

“We are serious on this proposal and will work to ensure it becomes a reality. We see it a possibility as the region despite having enough potential had not been able to recognise the fruits of development,” said Prabhu. The Nanded division of South Central Railway comprises Manmad, Parbhani and Akola of Maharashtra. He said a proposal for connecting the temple towns of Shirdi and Tirupati would be taken up actively keeping in mind the growing passenger requests.

To a question on the demand for creating a separate rail zone for Andhra Pradesh after its bifurcation, he said, the “Railway Board is working on it”.

Union labour and employment minister Bandaru Dattatreya said the Railways should consider forming a special protection force to identify and protect land from encroachment. “e want Railways to create a land bank and utilise it for building homes to its mazdoors,” said Dattatreya.