SCR to spend Rs 30cr on passenger amenities

South Central Railway (SCR) plans to spend Rs 30 crore in 2006-07 on passenger amenities. This apart, it has submitted a proposal worth over Rs 80 lakh for providing passenger lifts at Tirupati.

Addressing the media, D N Mathur, general manager, South Central Railway, said, "An amount of Rs 30 crore will be spent on passenger amenities this year. Forty one stations will be converted into model stations where the focus will be on providing proper area for circulation, parking, waiting rooms, and public utilities. This apart, within the trains we have decided to replace curtains every year, instead of waiting for them to get torn and tattered. A new initiative wherein trains are cleaned en route has been started at Vijayawada. We will be starting this process at Kazipet and Guntakal too."

SCR also plans to upgrade the unreserved ticketing system to computerised passenger reservation system. It is also working on freight operations information system that enables virtual handling of freight operations.

"To meet the increasing inflow of passenger traffic to Tirupati, we have submitted a proposal for providing passenger lifts at Tirupati. We are looking forward to its sanction in the supplementary budget. Later, we may look at implementing such a system at Secunderabad as well," Mathur said.

SCR has also received in-principle clearance from the Planning Commission for new lines on Jagayyapet-Mallacheruvu and Vishnupuram-Janpahad routes. Both involve a total cost of Rs 95.3 crore.

These projects are being processed further for sanction. SCR achieved an operating ratio of 80 per cent during 2005-06 as compared to 83.6 per cent in 2004-05.