Taking a giant leap towards infrastructure growth, the Andhra Pradesh government is planning an ?express rail corridor? project between Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Machilipatnam, covering a distance of about 350 km. It will link the GMR Hyderabad International Airport with Machilipatnam, officials said.
According to sources, the project is estimated to cost about Rs 3,000 crore , in addition to the cost of the land and station buildings across the corridor. ?Chief minister Rajasekhara Reddy is scheduled to make a presentation before the Prime Minister, requesting him to include the project along with other rail projects,? sources said .
Considering that the Indian Railways has already taken up a high-speed rail corridor project between Delhi and Mumbai ?with financial support from Japan?Reddy has proposed that a similar financial arrangement be made for this project as well, sources said.
Officials said the viability of the proposed Machilipatnam Port was possible if this one materialises, as they envisage greater goods movement from the industrially growing Hyderabad. Besides, the state government is also planning to develop industrial parks in each of the district ?Mahboobnagar, Ranga Reddy, Nalgonda, Warangal, Khammam and Krishna ?between Hyderabad and Machilipatnam route. The port is being developed by Mytas consortium led by Satyam?s Raju and family.
Historically, the erstwhile Nizam state used the Masula port (presently know as Machilipatnam port) for goods exports. The proposed rail project would once again establish links between the Telangana and Andhra region.