Vijayawada, Vizag in race for new rail zone

A new railway zone will be set up in Andhra Pradesh, in the aftermath of the bifurcation of the State, comprising three divisions of the South Central Railways — Vijayawada, Guntur and Guntakal — and the Waltair division of the East Coast Railway. No official announcement has been made so far, though it is very likely. The headquarters of the new railway zone has become a bone of contention with both Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam staking claim.

For almost a decade, there has been a demand that a new railway zone should be formed with Visakhapatnam as its headquarters, as Waltair division is the highest revenue earner in the East Coast Railway (ECOR) with earnings of the division crossing the ₹6,000-crore mark in 2013-14. Local people complain that the Waltair division is not getting its due in the ECOR and a separate zone should be formed.

However, after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, the formation of a new rail zone in AP has become a possibility as the headquarters of the SCR is in Secunderabad. It is but natural to join the three divisions with Waltair of the ECOR and give Andhra Pradesh a new rail zone.

SS Siva Sankar, the convener of the Uttarandhra Rakshana Vedika, says that unfortunately Waltair division was merged in the newly-formed East Coast Railway in 2003 during the tenure of Chandrababu Naidu as Chief Minister. The merger was done against the aspirations of the people of the region. The result was Visakhapatnam has remained neglected for over a decade.

He said that his organisation had got a feasibility study done for location of the new zone and advantages of Vizag over the other divisions are very clear. “The 70-page report has already been sent to the Railway Zone Committee. A total of 782 acres of railway land is available in Vizag as against 157 acres and 27 acres in Vijayawada and Guntur respectively. Of the 782 acre land available in Vizag, 210 acres is available close to the railway station,” he said.

The argument in favour of Vijayawada is its central location in the State and also the logistical advantages, as it is the biggest railway junction connecting the south with the north, with more than 300 trains passing through the station every day. “Its central location should clinch the issue in favour of Vijayawada,” says D Surya Rao, President of the Cocanada Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a member of the railway divisional consultatige committee.

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