PM Narendra Modi flags off Kacheguda-Yesvantpur Vande Bharat train, third from Telangana

HYDERABAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched nine Vande Bharat trains on Sunday in virtual mode from New Delhi. Among the nine was the Yesvantpur-Kacheguda Vande Bharat train the third Vande Bharat train to operate from Telangana.

“It is a historic event for the nation as the Prime Minister launched nine Vande Bharat trains linking 111 important cities in one go,” Union Minister and BJP State President G Kishan Reddy said at a function held at the Kacheguda railway station. He added that the Kacheguda-Yesvantpur train would connect three States and 12 districts.

“Today two important IT centres of the country are joined by speed rail service. The techies could go to Bengaluru and return to Hyderabad on the same day,” he said.

The Minister announced that the Prime Minister would be visiting Telangana on October 1 and 3. During that time he would lay foundation stones for several railway projects.

“The PM knows that Telangana has less railway network compared to other States, that is why he saw to it that Telangana was allocated Rs 4,418 crore this financial year,” Kishan Reddy said. He reminded that the UPA Government during 2014 allocated Rs 258 crore for Telangana.

“The Indian Railways undertook projects worth Rs 31,000 crore in Telangana and the works are under different stages of completion, out of this Rs 2,300 crore will be spent on modernization of railway stations in Telangana,” he said.

He said that Secunderabad railway station would be developed on a par with the Hyderabad airport at a cost of Rs 717 crore and Charlapally terminal would be developed at a cost of Rs 221 crore.

In addition to modernisation of Kacheguda station in Hyderabad, the wagon manufacturing unit in Kazipet would start manufacturing wagons in the first phase itself. The regional railway network which would come up next to the regional inner ring road would be a game changer for Telangana and especially to Hyderabad city.