South-Coast Railway Zone to be operational from April 1

Visakhaspatnam: The new railway zone, South Coast Railway (SCoR), would commence its full-fledged operations from the new premises from April. There were indications to the Railway officials about the developments. It is recalled that the new zone was announced by the Railway Board in 2019, but it was yet to get the gazette notification even after 6 years of the announcement. However, the South Central Railway (SCR) officials reportedly received the information about the new SCoR zone's operations from April 1.The new SCoR zone includes Vijayawada, Guntur and Guntakal from the South Central Railway (SCR), and the Visakhapatnam Division, which is formed from a portion of the old Waltair Division, from Vizag to Palasa sections, while some Waltair lines are merging into East Coast Railway's newly formed Rayagada Division. However, the temporary new zonal office would commence operations in a month in the newly constructed ‘The Deck' of the VMRDA. The new zone will get Guntakal, Guntur and Vijayawada divisions from South Central Railway (SCR), leaving only 3 divisions to SCR. The present Waltair Division, named after Visakhapatnam following a few changes, would be in the new South Coast Railway. The South Central Railway will now have only 3 divisions, including Secunderabad, Hyderabad and Nanded. SCR stretched across 6532 km route will now reduce to around 3044 route km, losing nearly half its route length and also significant revenue-generating freight lines. A large number of staff from SCR headquarters in Secunderabad are expected to be transferred to the South Coast Railway Zone at Visakhapatnam. During the recent budget session of the central govt, the Union Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that his department was fast-tracking work on the new zone headquartered in Visakhapatnam. The new zone will have 17,000 employees in 18 departments, including construction, operations, mechanical, commercial, chief engineer, medical, finance, personal maintenance, electrical and others. The temporary office on 2 floors in VMRDA's ‘The Deck' is ready. The General Manager's office would have 41,500 square feet of space, along with Heads of other departments. Apart from them, another 30 officers and above 700 employees would extend their services in the office. The GM office would be shifted to a permanent building which is under construction at the Mudasarlova area. The new zone will have 956 km of route and 1654 km of running track of Vijayawada division, 1452 km of route and 2145 km of running track of Guntakal, 630 km of route and 661 km of running track of Guntur, while it is 450 km of route track and 810 km of running track. A significant 680 km section from the 1106 km of the Waltair Division, including the major freight earner line Kothavalasa-Kirandul and also the Araku, would be merged into the newly formed Rayagada Division of East Coast Railway. Now, the Visakhapatnam division will have only 450 km of route. The new zone will operate more than 500 trains during peak season. It has a passenger coach care depot at Visakhapatnam, while Kakinada, Narsapur, Machilipatnam and Vijayawada are in Vijayawada Railway division. Nallapadu and Guntur are in Guntur Railway Division, Tirupati and Guntakal are in Guntakal division, while Vijayawada and Gooty have wagon maintenance depots. The new zone has electric loco sheds at the Electric Loco Shed at Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam, and diesel loco sheds at Guntakal, Gooty, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada. It has 2 electric loco trip sheds at Guntakal and Renigunta. When contracted the Railway Authorities in Visakhapatnam, they came to know about the news, but it has to be confirmed officially by the higher ups.