South Central Railway (SCR) has thus decided to aid the pilgrims of Lord Venkateswara temple in Tirumala by renovating the Tirupati Railway station for Rs 524 crore, The Hindu has reported.
General Manager of SCR Vinod Kumar Yadav announced the railway station’s modernisation plan on Tuesday (18 December). After inspecting platforms, waiting halls and cafeteria, Yadav told the reporters that tenders for the works would be floated soon.
Platform number four and five are to be modernised according to international standards and will have open waiting halls, premier executive lounge and a spacious cloakroom, said Yadav. Following that he unveiled a statue of Lord Venkateshwara at the entrance of the railway station. This was followed by a puja.
Yadav was accompanied by Divisional Railway manager VP Singh and senior railway officials from Tirupati, Guntakal and Renigunta.
The renovation tenders were called off in the past due to technical reasons. Thus, fresh tenders would have have to be floated again. This may take at least another three more months, said Guntakal Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Vijay Prathap Singh.