Tiruchanur Station will help ease traffic flow of pilgrims at Tirupati station (Representational image)

The South Coast Railway Zone's Tiruchanur Railway Station, which will help ease the heavy traffic flow of pilgrims at the Tirupati station, will become operational by March 2020, a railway official said this morning.

The station, likely to be re-christened as "Tirupati East" is being constructed at a cost of Rs 56 crore, up from its original cost of Rs 32 crore, said Alok Tiwari, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Guntakal Division.

"Tirupati station is always crowded with lakhs of devotees who come from all over the world to visit the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara. The Tiruchanur Railway Station, which should be operational by March 2020, will help taking some load off it," said the DRM.

The per day average footfall at Tirupati station is over and above 75,000 passengers, he said.

Nestled between Tirupati and Renigunta stations, the Tiruchanur Railway Station besides being the nearest alighting point to Sri Padmavathi temple, is also a shortcut to the Tirumala hills via Mangla.

Mr Tiwari said the railways was mulling a change of name of the station to ensure that passengers don't get confused between the similar sounding names - Tirupati and Tiruchanur.

"Many devotees won't be familiar with the name Tiruchanur, and in confusion might always end up booking ticket for Tirupati station. Now, this won't serve any purpose. So to avoid that we are thinking of changing its name," he said.

Commissioned to be a green building, the upcoming railway station will be big in terms of the architecture too. Inspired by the grandeur of Tirumala hills, its state-of-the art architecture would showcase seven unevenly elevated exposed concrete structures -- resembling the seven hills of Tirumala.

"These vertical louvres will add aesthetic value to the building. Also, these structures will be placed away from each other -- as well as from the main building block -- to reduce the heat and increase the indirect light into the building," said Mr Tiwari.

Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu laid the foundation stone for the construction of the railway station in 2016.