A pivotal meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways, presided over by MP CM Ramesh, was convened in Tirupati on Monday to address a number of development-related matters concerning South Central Railways. The Rajya Sabha MP K Lakshman, SCR GM Arun Kumar Jain, and Tirupati MP Dr. M Gurumoorthy were among those who attended the committee’s meeting at a luxury hotel after their adoration of Lord Venkateswara in Tirumala.

The committee received a comprehensive document from MP Gurumoorthy that included a number of recommendations. A proposal has been made to build a new Balaji Railway Division cantered in Tirupati in response to the increasing requests for better railway services in the Tirupati district. According to him, the region’s railway operations are now split up among many divisions, which has resulted in operational inefficiencies and difficulties with the growing volume of freight and passenger traffic. In order to promote regional development and improve connectivity within the state and its neighboring states, the planned Balaji Railway Division would combine and manage important lines while simplifying operations.

This division will be in charge of the following routes: Tirupati to Katpadi, which transports people to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka; Tirupati to Gudur, which connects to the major Chennai-Howrah and Chennai-Mumbai lines. In order to further improve regional connection, it also includes the Tirupati to Dharmavaram route, which makes it easier to go to Bengaluru and southern Karnataka; the Tirupati to Yerraguntla-Nandyal line, which improves access to the Rayalaseema area; and the Tirupati to Srikalahasti-Nadikudi route.

In order to better serve commuters in the area, the MP also suggested expanding important rail lines. Among them are the extensions of the Venkatadri Express (12798), which currently runs between Kacheguda and Chittoor, to Kuppam and the Simhapuri Express (12710), which currently runs between Secunderabad and Gudur, to Tirupati.

To help devotees and visitors, Gurumoorthy has suggested a Vande Bharat train that would run from Nellore to Mysore via Tirupati and Renigunta. In order to improve connection and shorten the travel time between the two important stations, he also discussed the need for establishing a Vande Bharat sleeper train between Tirupati and Visakhapatnam. Ayodhya, Tirupati-Varanasi, Tirupati-Shirdi (daily), Tirupati-Brahmapur, and Nellore-Tiruvannamali via Tirupati and Chittoor were among the other trains the MP suggested.

Following the meeting, the committee members went to the Tirupati Railway Station to assess the status of the ongoing upgrades. They examined the construction on the station’s north and south sides and requested that the authorities expedite the remaining work so that the project could be finished in the allotted time. K Satyanarayana, the station director of Tirupati, was among those in attendance.

BJP leaders Kola Anand, Gundala Gopinath, and others met with CM Ramesh in the meanwhile and asked that the station construction work be finished quickly since it is seriously inconveniencing the passengers.