Indian Railways has given a passenger-friendly makeover to the Kacheguda railway station in Telangana, while preserving its heritage structure look and feel. The Kacheguda railway station is an iconic station and has among the most exquisite buildings from the railway terminals in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. According to a railway official that Financial Express Online spoke to, Indian Railways has upgraded the Kacheguda railway station while maintaining its iconic structure. “The structure of the Kacheguda railway station is around 100 years old and since it is a heritage building. we have preserved its look, painting it from time to time. The upgradation drive has been carried out within the existing structure, focusing on enhancing passenger amenities,” the official told Financial Express Online. We take a look at what the upgraded Kacheguda railway station offers:

1.The Kacheguda station has been converted to an energy efficient railway station with 100 per cent LED lighting. The station has solar panels with capacity of 400 KwP. With these, the anticipated savings per year recorded by the station is around 6.5 lakh energy units worth Rs 48 lakh in bills and around 606 tonnes of CO2 reduction on a yearly basis.

2. As part of environment-friendly initiatives, bio-toilets or green toilets have been installed on the station platforms. Two disposable water bottle crushing machines, water recycling plant is also located at the platforms. Sanitary Napkin incinerators are also provided along with sanitary napkin vending machines in the ladies waiting halls.

3. A sewage treatment plant was set up at the station which yields 3.5 lakh litres on a daily basis and caters to 25 per cent requirements of the station. Water from the recycling plant is used for cleaning of concrete apron of all platforms, pit lines, exteriors of coaches, watering the gardens etc.

4. The interiors of the railway station have been decorated with cheriyal paintings which is symbolic of the tradition and culture of Telangana for the passengers who come from all over the country. The walls of the station entrance and platform one are painted with Warli art.

5. The station is identified as the first of its kind railway station of the Indian Railways network which has introduced DigiPay for railway customers to transact any amount on the digital payment gateway with the use of debit/credit cards, mobile paperless ticketing and payment through the use of digital wallets. Additionally, free high speed Wi-Fi service of ‘Rail Wire’ is provided as part of the ‘Digital India’ program in collaboration with Google.

6. Many amenities for passengers are provided at the station such as lifts, escalators and complete cover over sheds on all platforms. The renovated retiring rooms are priced at rate affordable rates for passengers at the station. Along with this, the ‘NavRaS’ application and ‘Rail Station Info’ for facilitating the information about various passenger facilities at the station.

7. There is a lounge at the station for short duration stay of passengers. Cab facility as well as pre-paid auto booth service are available through mobile applications for passengers.

8. The Kacheguda Station is ranked at the 14th position in the All India cleanliness awards of ‘A1’ category stations in a third party audit survey conducted by Quality Council of India (QCI).

The station has been awarded with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) heritage award and has one of its kind exclusive Rail Museum, displaying the heritage old railway equipments.