Visakhapatnam: The Railways has decided to retain the Visakhapatnam division in the South Coast Railway Zone (SCoR) instead of completely dissolving the Waltair division, officials said.
Prior to this, the zone was set to include only Vijayawada, Guntur, and Guntakal divisions, but with the latest orders, the Visakhapatnam division has been reinstated, making it a four-division zone.
The South Central Railway Zone (SCR) has three divisions - Secunderabad, Hyderabad, and Nanded. The East Coast Railway Zone (ECoR) has three divisions - Khurda Road, Sambalpur, and Rayagada. With the Waltair division being reorganised, the newly formed Visakhapatnam division will consist of Palasa-Visakhapatnam-Duvvada, Kuneru-Vizianagaram-Naupada-Parlakhemundi, Bobbili-Saluru, Simhachalam North-Duvvada Bypass, Vadlapudi-Duvvada, and Visakhapatnam Steel Plant-Jaggayyapalem.
The Kothavalasa-Bacheli/Kirandole, Kuneru-Theruvali, Singapore Road-Koraput, and Parlakhemundi-Gunupur sections (680 km total) will be transferred to the Rayagada division under the East Coast Railway Zone. 250 km of railway lines will be transferred from SCoR to SCR, while 46 km will be added to SCoR from SCR, officials added.
Sections Moving to Secunderabad Division (SCR) are the Raichur-Vadi section (108 km), which is important for coal transportation to Yadlapur and Ermaras thermal power plants. Vishnupuram-Pagadipalli and Vishnupuram-Janpahad routes (142 km) are currently used to transport coal from Singareni mines to the Yadadri thermal power plant. Kondapalli-Motumarri section (46 km) brings Narla Tatarao power station and Rayanapadu workshops fully under the South Coast Zone.
The Railway Board has ordered a revised DPR that will finalise the rail line and track details under each division, a list of stations within each zone, staff allocation and operational plans, they said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently laid the foundation stone for the South Coast Railway Zone headquarters in Visakhapatnam, marking a significant step toward the zone’s operationalisation. The demand for a separate railway zone in Visakhapatnam dates back decades and was officially promised during the 2014 bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. But the Centre ignored the demand until 2019 when it finally announced the SCoR before the general elections.
