Hyderabad: The recent meeting between the Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao seems to have a positive effect as the railways decided to exempt traffic block charges of Rs 80 crore on Metro Rail works over South Central Railway (SCR) tracks.

The Railway Board advised SCR, which demanded Rs 10 crore per railway crossing where Metro lines crossed SCR tracks at eight locations, to exempt traffic block charges.  In the meeting, KCR had brought to the notice of the Minister that the amount was more than the cost of the Road-Over-Bridge (RoB) itself.

The government of Telangana had paid Rs 25 crore towards charges to SCR one and a half years ago. Metro Rail officials said the decision would speed up the works on eight RoBs at different locations in the twin cities apart from saving Rs 80 crore of Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) money.

The Metro corridors cross the SCR tracks at Alugaddabavi, Mettuguda, Oliphanta Bridge, Bhoiguda, Begumpet, Bharat Nagar, Lakdi-ka-pul and Malakpet.  HMR officials said the works at Mettuguda and Alugaddabavi would be taken up in coordination with railway authorities on priority basis.  

Source: THI