PM Modi has aimed to modernise several railway stations in the past few years. (File)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone for the redevelopment of the Secunderabad Railway Station in Hyderabad on Saturday. He will also flag off the Secunderabad-Tirupati Vande Bharat Express during his visit to Hyderabad.
The Secunderabad Railway Station redevelopment project is estimated to cost Rs 720 crore. The station will get world class amenities and an aesthetically designed iconic building.
This is not the only station that is set to undergo redevelopment work. PM Modi has aimed to modernise several railway stations in the past few years.
In July 2021, PM Modi inaugurated the redeveloped Gandhinagar Capital Railway Station. It was the first station in the country to be revamped. The work was conceptualised in 2016 as part of the government's aim to transform stations into world-class 24X7 transport and business hubs.
The same year in November, he inaugurated the redeveloped Rani Kamalapati Railway Station in Bhopal. In May 2022, PM Modi laid the foundation stones for the redevelopment of five stations in Tamil Nadu. These included Chennai Egmore, Rameswaram, Katpadi, Kanniyakumari and Madurai railway stations.
A month later, the Udhna, Surat, Somnath and Sabarmati railway stations in Gujarat were chosen by PM Modi for redevelopment. Then in Karnataka, the foundation stone was laid by the Prime Minister for the modernisation of the Bengaluru Cantt and Yesvantpur stations. The country also got its first air-conditioned railway station, Sir M Visvesvaraya Railway Station at Baiyappanahalli in Bengaluru, in June 2022.
The Ranchi Railway Station in Jharkhand was also picked by the government for redevelopment. In September, three other stations in Kerala namely Ernakulam, Ernakulam Town and Kollam railway stations were chosen for redevelopment.
The modernisation of the New Delhi and Ahmedabad railway stations was approved by the Union Cabinet chaired by PM Modi later the same month.
PM Modi has also laid the foundation stone for revamping Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam railway station, Nagpur and Ajni railway stations in Maharashtra, and Jalpaiguri station in West Bengal.
In 2023, he has already laid the foundation stone for the redevelopment of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai and inaugurated the redeveloped Belagavi Railway Station and the longest railway platform in the world at Shree Siddharoodha Swamiji Hubballi Station, both in Karnataka.