Vizag to get world-class railway zone headquarters

Visakhapatnam: Central Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has directed officials to finalise a blueprint for construction of a world-class office complex for the zonal headquarters of South Coast Railway (SCoR).

Contrary to the expectation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's just-concluded visit to Visakhapatnam excluded the foundation stone-laying ceremony for kick-starting construction work for the zonal headquarters, a promise he had made during his public rally held here on the eve of 2019 general elections.

Though the carving out of the zone from the Bhubaneswar-headquartered East Coast Railway (ECoR) saw several turns and tribulations, the Railway Minister during his stay in Visakhapatnam, reviewed the progress of various proposals including Rs 450 crore redevelopment of Waltair Railway Station and inspected the site for the proposed construction of new zonal headquarters at Wireless Colony here along with Railway Board Chairman and CEO VK Tripathi, ECoR General Manager Roop Narayan Sunker and Divisional Railway Manager Anup Satpathy.

The railways has sanctioned Rs106 crore for construction of SCoR zonal headquarters. The Railway Board sanction was received two days ago, a day before the Prime Minister laid the stone for redevelopment of Waltair Railway Station at a cost of Rs 450 crore.

The DRM told Bizz Buzz on Sunday that the Railway Minister directed for construction of a world-class zonal headquarters in Visakhapatnam and to expedite the work. He said tenders for construction will be floated shortly.

Piyush Goyal, then Railway Minister announced during February, 2019 that "as per item eight of Schedule 13 (Infrastructure) of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014, Indian Railways was required to examine establishing a new railway zone in the successor State of Andhra Pradesh. 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 in Visakhapatnam."

He had said in a notification that "the new zone named South Coast Railway (SCoR) will comprise existing Guntakal, Guntur and Vijayawada divisions. Waltair division shall be split into two parts. One part of Waltair division will be incorporated in the new zone ie in SCoR and will be merged with the neighbouring Vijayawada division. Remaining portion of the Waltair division shall be converted into a new division with headquarters at Rayagada under ECoR. SCoR will consist of Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Nanded divisions."

Waltair division in the passenger front had ferried 15.49 millions of passengers as on October 31, 2022, which was 192.82 per cent more than the last financial year for the same period. The revenue earned was Rs 409.51 crore, 101.59 per cent higher than last financial year, even surpassing the target by 46.43 per cent.

Notably, the division clocked an overall performance with total revenue to the tune of Rs 5016.18 crore as on October 31, 2022-10.85 per cent more than the last financial year for the same period and bettered the target by 2.11 per cent.