The Centre on Wednesday announced the creation of a separate railway zone in Andhra Pradesh — a long pending demand of the ruling NDA’s erstwhile ally, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
The new zone, South Coast Railway (SCoR), would comprise the existing Guntakal, Guntur and Vijayawada divisions. Additionally, the Waltair division would be bifurcated.
“One part of the Waltair division will be incorporated in the new zone and will be merged with the neighbouring Vijayawada division,” the Ministry of Railways said. Waltair division is a part of the East Coast Railway (ECoR) zone.
A separate railway zone was one of the key promises made to Andhra Pradesh in the bifurcation act.
The Railways said post bifurcation, the remaining part of the Waltair division would be converted into a new division headquartered at Rayagada, Odisha, under the ECoR.
“As per item 8 of Schedule 13 (Infrastructure) of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, Indian Railways was required to examine establishing a new railway zone in the successor State of Andhra Pradesh,” Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal said.
“The matter has been examined in detail in consultation with stakeholders and it has been decided to go ahead with creation of a new zone with headquarters at Visakhapatnam,” Mr. Goyal added. At present, South Central Railway has six divisions — Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Guntakal, Guntur and Nanded. With the formation of a new zone, the SCR would comprise Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Nanded divisions.