As soon as the government changed in AP, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu made it clear that Amaravati will be the sole capital of the state, the Ministry of Railways started taking fast steps to build the Amaravati railway line proposed by Naidu when he was the Chief Minister earlier.
With the Jagan Mohan Reddy government abandoning the development of Amaravati in the name of three capitals, several development programs proposed by the central government here have come to a standstill. Now gazette notification for land acquisition of Amaravati railway line has been issued.
Though earlier Railways created several obstacles in this regard insisting that the state government should acquire land and bare part of expenditure, presently after TDP emerging as the key supporting partner of BJP at the center, Railways have started the process on their own.
This project has been shelved for the last five years due to Jagan government’s negligence. A gazette notification has been issued identifying this as a special project to facilitate land acquisition between Errupalem- Amaravati- Nambur. A new railway line was sanctioned in 2017-18 to connect the capital region to Vijayawada and Guntur railway lines.
A double line of 56 kilometers between Errupalem- Amaravati-Nambur, a single line of 24 and a half kilometers between Amaravati- Pedakurapadu, and a single line of 25 kilometers between Sattenapalli- Narasaraopet and a total of 106 kilometers of new line were approved at that time.
But, after Jagan came to power, the railway line project got stuck due to the destruction of Amaravati. After Chandrababu became the chief minister again, there was movement in the railway department. Presently railways are proposing to take up 56.53 km single line between Errupalem- Amaravati- Nambur, instead of double line.
450 hectares of land will be acquired for this line in Krishna, Guntur, Palnadu and Khammam districts. For construction of single line and land acquisition together it was estimated to cost Rs 2,600 crore. This new line will start at Errupalem on the Vijayawada- Hyderabad route and cross Amaravati to join the Guntur- Vijayawada line at Nambur.
After Errupalem, 9 new stations will be constructed at Peddapuram, Chinnaravupalem, Gottumukkala, Paritala, Kothapeta, Vaddamanu, Amaravati, Tadikonda and Koppuravur. Among these, Peddapuram, Paritala, Koppuravur will be built as main stations and Amaravati as main station. As part of this line, a 3 km long bridge will be constructed between Kothapeta- Vaddamanu over Krishna river.