Much-awaited Adilabad-Armoor railway line remains a mirage

People of both Nirmal and Adilabad districts have been demanding rail connectivity to Hyderabad for many decades, as they are forced to travel 435 km, passing Maharashtra in order to reach Hyderabad. The distance between Adilabad and Hyderabad is 300 km through road

Adilabad: The much-awaited Adilabad-Armoor broad-gauge railway line continues to remain a mirage for the people of Adilabad, Nizamabad, and Nirmal districts.

Nirmal MLA A Maheshwar Reddy recently met Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnav requesting him to take steps to realise the long pending dream of the 125-kilometer-long railway line between Adilabad-Armoor towns via Nirmal. He exuded confidence that the line would become a reality soon as Vaishnav responded positively to his request, rekindling hopes of the people from this region.

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Incidentally, the BJP’s nominees won from Adilabad and Nizamabad parliament segments, six Assembly constituencies falling in the three districts. People of this region pinned many hopes on the public representatives belonging to the party. However, no significant progress was seen with regard to creation of the line so far. The railway line remains a distant dream for the people of the three districts.

People of both Nirmal and Adilabad districts have been demanding rail connectivity to Hyderabad for many decades. They commute to the capital of the state for various needs including commercial, education and livelihood. They are currently relying on services of TSRTC and private vehicles, shelling huge amounts, due to lack of a railway line on this route.

At present, passengers are forced to travel 435 kilometres, passing neighboring Maharashtra in order to reach Hyderabad, through the existing railway line between Adilabad headquarters and the capital of the State. But, the distance between Adilabad and Hyderabad is 300 kilometers through road. Therefore, they are demanding a new line from Adilabad to Armoor of Nizamabad. The line can drastically reduce travel distance and expenses.

In August of 2023, the Indian Railways issued a notification inviting tenders to conduct an eight month long Final Location Survey (FLS) to construct a broad-gauge railway line from Nizamabad to Adilabad via Nirmal and Armoor at an estimated cost of Rs 13.56 crore. It was seen as a major step forward in laying the line. However, the progress of the survey was not disclosed till date.

The then Endowments Minister A Indrakaran Reddy who represented Nirmal and his former forest minister Jogu Ramanna of Adilabad made concrete efforts to realize the dream. Accordingly, the then state government gave the nod to bear 50 per cent of the total expenditure required for taking up the project in 2017. Accordingly, the Union government allocated Rs 2,800 crore in 2018. Still, the project did not materialize for reasons unknown.

It may be mentioned that an alternative railway line between Patancheru and Adilabad via Armoor and Nirmal was granted in the Railway Budget of 2009-10. The cost of the 317 kilometer long network was estimated to be Rs 3,771 crore. However, the proposal failed to take off due to poor allocation of funds.