Ambitious plans to transform Secunderabad and Tirupati railway stations into world class stations, announced years ago, are yet to take off. The proposed project planned to develop the station by constructing platforms on various levels and interconnect them with escalators. It included plans to have booking offices and waiting halls on each of floor and also malls, restaurants and kiosks within the premises to generate commercial revenue.
A senior railway official said, “There is no progress on the project till date but, we are hopeful that the work will commence this year as the railway minister has the announced a separate authority for the purpose.” The ground reality is that the Secunderabad station continues to be one of the most notorious in terms of service as well as cleanliness. Secunderabad station is one of the most congested stations in the state. Serpentine queues at booking counters and overcrowded platforms also makes it one of the most noisy stations. Announcements being drowned in the ensuing chaos only add to the commuters woes. With no escalators, passengers have trouble carting their luggage to the platforms. “Forget multi-level platforms, even the ground-level platforms are not maintained properly,” said Pooja, a passenger..