Tirupati-Katpadi rail line electrification complete
Tirupati,Dec4,New Indian Express

The much-awaited electrification work of the railway line between Tirupati and Katpadi, taken up at a cost of Rs 110 crore, was completed and would be inaugurated by Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav here on December 8.
With this, passengers travelling between Bangalore and Tirupati would benefit immensely as the journey time would be reduced from the present 12 to 14 hours to six to seven hours. Katpadi Junction, bordering three states, would link them all and reduce the travel time by two hours to Kerala and Kanyakumari bound trains coming from North India with the completion of the 105 km guage conversion, including electrification.
This would also benefit Kamataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and provide a link between the IT capital Bangalore and spiritual capital of Tirupati.
The gauge conversion between Katpadi to Tirupati was completed two years ago and the electrification works recently. Test runs were also conducted by the Railway authorities last week and finally the Divisional Railway Manager of Guntakal has given a green signal for its inauguration.
According to sources, the South Central Railway plans to run all South-bound trains through Renigunta, Tirupati, Chittoor to Katpadi, instead of Renigunta, Tiruttani, Arakonam and Katpadi thereby reduce two hours of running time and lessen the burden on the Chennai railway line. At present only a single line exists for passenger and goods train traffic and the officials were allowing two goods trains during day time towards Kerala and Kanyakumari and vice versa. After the electrification more trains would be able to take the route.