Cherlapally takes charge to ease Secunderabad’s load for a makeover Premium

South Central Railway plans to shift trains to new Cherlapally terminal for Secunderabad station redevelopment project progress.

South Central Railway (SCR) is keen get the newly-developed fourth terminal station of Cherlapally commissioned soon so that it can shift some of the originating trains from the Secunderabad railway station. This, senior railway officials informed, would free up a few platforms at the main station for taking up major redevelopment works as part of the ₹699-crore project initiated last year.

The ₹430-crore Cherlapally terminal station is a little more than 11 km away. This station can handle 10 passing trains and 15 originating trains with the help of 10 new railway lines and four new platforms. There is a plan to shift at least 10 trains here from Secunderabad station so that the key works on new buildings on both sides, platforms, passenger amenities, entry/exits etc. can begin for modernisation, said railway officials.

“It will take a month each for work to be completed near each of the 10 platforms at Secunderabad for laying slabs. During that time, we will be moving certain trains to originate from Cherlapally station in a staggered manner without affecting daily passenger services,” said SCR Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) A. Sridhar.

Yet for now, key offices will continue to function from temporary buildings at the main station, like the new booking office constructed on platform one (north side) for facilitating construction activity. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the project in August last year and works began the very next month.

About 30% of the physical redevelopment work has been completed and other works are expected to gather pace once Cherlapally station eases some pressure on Secunderabad station. A revamped Secunderabad station is crucial to SCR because it alone earns a revenue of ₹500 crore and handles 20 million passengers per year.

On a daily average, around 180 trains use the station with a footfall of 1.5 lakh passengers. Ongoing upgrades with modern amenities are meant to handle the expected rise in these numbers in future, he said.

Once completed, the ‘new’ Secunderabad station will have new ground plus three-storey buildings on both sides – near platform one and platform 10, a double storey sky concourse with passenger amenities at one place along with space for retail, cafeterias, recreational facilities, separate entry and exits (drop off and pick up locations) to avoid cross movement of arrival and departure passengers as well as vehicular movement.