Hyderabad: The redevelopment works at Secunderabad railway station, costing 700 crore, are affecting around 1 lakh passengers daily, with South Central Railway (SCR) shifting or diverting as many as 78 train services from its headquarters to other terminals.
There are also plans to relocate a further 30 to 50 trains from Secunderabad to other city terminals. Initially, the railways shifted only 10 trains to alternative terminals such as Cherlapally and Kacheguda. However, due to the ongoing construction of the sky concourse and infrastructure development on platforms 5 and 6, over 70 trains, including special services, have now been shifted or diverted.

This change requires passengers to travel an additional 15 to 20 kilometres to reach their boarding points, causing inconvenience to daily commuters, particularly in Cherlapally, due to poor road conditions. For instance, the journey between Secunderabad and Cherlapally, spanning 15 kilometres, now takes nearly an hour during peak traffic periods.
SCR officials state that the ongoing construction requires foundational work on platforms, which are currently fully occupied with building materials. “Due to these circumstances, operating trains on the affected platforms has become unfeasible. The service disruption is expected to continue for over 100 days until construction activities on platforms are completed,” said a senior SCR official.
“We have to travel 16 kilometres from Secunderabad to Cherlapally by road, with RTC bus 250C from Keyes High School taking over an hour, followed by a 500-metre walk to the terminal. The lack of adequate MMTS connections from Lingampally/Umdanagar to Kacheguda/Secunderabad/Medchal to Cherlapally has left us, particularly elderly passengers and women with children, reliant on private transport,” said Dhanunjay Reddy, a rail passenger.
Travellers’ associations say that several trains, including the Shirdi Express, Vizag LTT, Janmabhoomi, Kakinada LTT, and Kakinada–Lingampally special trains, will be diverted between Charlapally and Lingampally, bypassing Secunderabad and Begumpet stations.
“These services will route via Neredmet, Ammuguda, Bhudevi Nagar, and Suchitra, without any stops along the 35-kilometre stretch between Charlapally and Lingampally,” said P Bharadwaj, a member of the Divisional Railway Users’ Consultative Committee.