South Central Railway has announced the completion of doubling and electrification work on the 13.98 km Falaknuma-Umdanagar section as part of Hyderabad’s MMTS Phase II project.
According to the zone, with the completion of this work, 5 out of 7 parts of execution of the MMTS Phase-II project have been completed. In addition to the track doubling and electrification, associated infrastructural developments have also been carried out.
IR subsidiary Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) was the executing agency for the work. So far, new rail line works between Telapur – Ramachandrapuram, electrification between Secunderabad – Bolarum, electrification and Doubling between Bolarum – Medchal and Quadrupling between Moula Ali – Ghatkesar have been completed and commissioned. With the completion of a double, electrified line between Falaknuma and Umdanagar, MMTS Phase- II is now in its final stages.
Electronic Interlocking display from a station on the newly commissioned Falaknuma-Umdanagar doubling work
Works Done on Falaknuma-Umdanagar
Construction of double line with electrification will ease congestion and improve operational efficiency in handling various classes of trains. The Falaknuma – Umdanagar link is an important stretch of line connecting Secunderabad, Kacheguda with Kurnool city, Guntakal, Bengaluru and further south. Important services including the Andhra Pradesh & Karnataka Sampark Kranthi trains ply on this route.
Four stations lie on the Falaknuma – Umdanagar section. These are, Falaknuma, NPA Shivarampally, Budvel and Umdanagar. These stations have been provided with new station buildings, high-level platforms, foot overbridges, a wide circulating area and parking facilities. Twenty four bridges including major bridges have been constructed on the section. Out of 6 level crossing gates in the section, one Road-Under-Bridge (RUB) e has been constructed and the remaining 5 level crossings have been interlocked with the signalling system.
Hyderabad’s Multi-Modal Transport Service Phase II
Hyderabad’s Multi-Modal Transport Service (MMTS) is a cost-effective suburban transport network. The network extends operates on the Falaknuma – Secunderabad – Hyderabad – Lingampalli – Ramachandrapuram routes.
In the first phase, MMTS Phase-I network spanned a length of 42 km. MMTS Phase II was proposed to extend the network by 84 km. A brief list of work involved for Phase II:
- A new line between Telapur – Ramachandrapuram in the western part of Hyderabad.
- Electrification between Secunderabad and Bolarum.
- Doubling of the line with electrification between Bolarum – Medchal in the northern areas of Hyderabad.
- Quadrupling with electrification and automatic signalling between Ghatkesar and Moula Ali to ease congestion and add train handling capacity.
- Doubling with electrification between Falaknuma – Umdanagar in the southern areas of the city.
- Doubling & electrification between Moulali – Malkajgiri – Sitaphalmandi
- Doubling with electrification between Moula Ali – Sanathnagar along with the construction of 5 new stations in the section for providing East-west connectivity by-passing Secunderabad station.