Hyderabad: The South Central Railway (SCR) has begun demolishing the main terminal building of Secunderabad Railway Station as part of a Rs 720 crore redevelopment project aimed at transforming the historic station into a modern transit hub.
The station, which has been a crucial part of Hyderabad’s railway network for 151 years, was originally built in 1874 by the Nizam and later expanded in 1950 after merging with Indian Railways. Currently, it caters to a daily footfall of approximately 1.5 lakh passengers. While the project promises world-class facilities, some locals have expressed their emotional attachment to the old structure.
Malleswara Rao, a local resident said, "I have been seeing Secunderabad Railway Station for 50 years. The station has a historic structure. However, due to increasing population and space constraints, a new station building is being constructed."
"We hope that the significance of the existing structure will be reflected in the new building as well. If the outer design of the old structure is retained in the new one, it would make people happy," he added.
Conservationist Anuradha Reddy, Convenor of INTACH called the redevelopment plan unnecessary. Reddy said, "For me personally when we travelled that time to go anywhere with ladies, with families, with anybody, we travelled from Secunderabad station. When we went there and saw it, we felt like we were leaving home, we would come back home. Today, when they are demolishing that building, which in my view is quite unnecessary because they are demolishing a strong-built history."
Despite concerns, railway authorities assert that the redevelopment is essential to accommodate growing passenger demands and improve infrastructure.
SCR Chief Public Relations Officer, A. Sridhar said, “The station is not able to cater to the present requirements. Moreover, the station is getting older, there are leakages, there are space constraints, so a lot of problems are faced by passengers."
“In order to make it more suitable to the present needs and also keeping in view the coming 30-40 years, we have to plan this. As you know, the Government of India has now given Rs 720 crores for the redevelopment of the station,” Sridhar said.
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