High-speed railway corridors to pass through AP

HYDERABAD: The Railway ministry is planning to construct six high speed corridors for which survey work is underway. Among the proposed high speed corridors will be one from Kolkata to Kerala via Vijayawada, Nellore and Veluru and another from Hyderabad to Chennai.Addressing a two-day national workshop on Skills Upgradation and Prevention of Accidents organised by the South Central Railways Employees Sangh and National Federation of Indian Railwaymen, minister of state for railways, KH Muniyappa said the railways is also planning to construct railway over bridges, under bridges in place of crossings to avoid accidents and this work will be completed by 2014.The other proposed corridors are from Bengaluru to Chennai, Mumbai to Chennai, Delhi to Hyderabad and Delhi to Chennai. The survey for the same through a consultant, is underway.The minister also said there are pressures from various quarters to hike charges and that the matter was under discussion. “Around 2,000 to 3,000 deaths are registered every year in train accidents and we are looking to bring the numbers down to zero,” Muniyappa said. He added that they are planning to introduce an advanced signaling system, presently used in Konkan Railway, in places in the country to reduce accidents. He said the railways, has set a target to construct 20,000 new railway lines by 2020.   The MMTS second phase works in Hyderabad will begin from February 2012 and the state government is ready to bear two-thirds of the entire project cost of Rs 600 crore. He appreciated the AP government for coming forward to bear 50 percent cost of new railway projects.