Hyderabad: The South Central Railways on Monday announced that it has been allocated a staggering amount of Rs 5,337 crore for Telangana, and Namo Bharat and Amrit Bharat trains will be launched soon for Telangana.

While speaking virtually, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, “Entire Telangana is 100 per cent electrified and the total invested is Rs 41,677 crore. The financial boost is expected to strengthen regional economic growth by enhancing connectivity between major industrial hubs, ports, and cities within the State. Improved railway infrastructure will also provide a safer and more efficient mode of travel for millions of passengers and help facilitate smoother freight movement, benefitting both the industrial and agricultural sectors”.

Highlighting the Kavach and Kazipet projects, the Minister added, “Telangana has taken a lead in Kavach, as most of development works are been done in Secunderabad, where the centre of excellence for Kavach is located. Currently, 1,465 km of Kavach has been commissioned in various sections across SCR jurisdiction; trials for the installation of latest version 4.0 are underway; some sections have taken up and left over is 1,326 km. We have targeted to deploy Kavach throughout the entire rail network of the country in the next six years”.

On new train services, especially Namo Bharat, he stated, “Five Vande Bharat trains are being operated in Telangana covering seven districts and having nine stoppages. Development of 40 railway stations in Telangana has been taken under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme. 50 New Namo Bharat trains, 200 Vande Bharat trains and 100 new Amrit Bharat trains have been approved. The running of these trains will be announced from time to time”.

The Railways has undertaken a significant mission of replacements of old tracks of 7,000 km. It plans to upgrade tracks to run trains at a speed of 160 kmph on important sections. Similarly, some routes will have the capacity to run trains at speed of 130 kmph; the entire network will have a capacity to run trains at 100 kmph.

Highlighting on MMTS, Arun Kumar Jain, the SCR General Manager, said, “There has been a consistent increase the fund allocation to Telangana in successive budgets in recent times. The second phase has been commissioned. Shortly we will be starting the process of execution of services from Ghatkesar to Yadadri.”