HYDERABAD: The people of Medchal, Siddipet, Medak, Siricilla and Karimnagar districts have been aspiring for a railway connect between Hyderabad and Karimnagar (Manoharabad to Kothapalli) for a long time now. Over 50 lakh persons living in the region have been habituated to travelling via trains.
A ray of hope had dawned on the people of the five districts, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone for construction of a new railway line connecting Manoharabad in Medak district and Kothapalli in Karimnagar district in August 2016. The project was sanctioned for a distance of 151.40 km at an estimated cost of 1,160 crore. An amount of 350 crore was allocated in the year 2017-18 and 125 crore in the year 2018-19 as the railway budget by Railway Minister, Piyush Goyal.
The new rail line envisaged, passes through several important towns such as Vemulawada (Dakshina Kaashi), Sircilla, Siddipet and Gajwel. The project is also being monitored during Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI) meetings, which is a multi-purpose and multi-modal platform launched by the Prime Minister. The platform is aimed at addressing common man’s grievances while simultaneously monitoring and reviewing important programs and projects of the Central and the State governments.
About 90 percent of land for Phase-I stretch has already been acquired by the State Government and handed over to the Railways for taking up the work. Accordingly, earth work, including, cutting and embankment, construction of minor bridges are in progress and are set to be completed by March, 2019.
The Manoharabad-Kothapalli railway line project includes construction of 160 Bridges, 7 Road over Bridges, 49 Road under Bridges and 13 New Railway stations (8 crossing stations and 5 halts). The new Railway Stations to come up are Nacharam, Iranagaram (Halt), Gajwel, Kodakandla (Halt), Lakhadaram, Duddeda, Siddipet, Gurralagondi (Halt), Chinnalingapur, Siricilla, Vemulawada, Boinapally and Wedira (Halt).
What makes this new line so crucial is the fact that the entire belt comprising of several important towns including pilgrim centres will be well connected by rail. For lakhs of pilgrims travelling to Vemulawada every year, handloom weavers of Siddipet and business community of Gajwel, this project will bring in a new standard in travel convenience.
What Phase 1 would look like...
The project is being executed in four phases and targeted for completion at the earliest. Phase-I covers Manoharabad-Gajwel (32 km), Phase-II cover Gajwel-Duddeda (32.15 km), Phase-III- Duddeda-Sircilla (48.65 km) and Phase-IV from Sircilla to Kothapalli (38.60 km). About 90 percent of land for Phase-I has already been acquired by the State.