Finally, Railway Zone With Headquarter In Visakhapatnam To Become A Reality

Visakhapatnam: Putting at rest the ambiguity over formation of a railway zone with headquarters in Visakhapatnam, a long-cherished dream of the people of Andhra Pradesh, the Railways has issued an e-tender notification inviting proposals from various firms including joint ventures for construction of an iconic building complex for the zonal headquarters here at a total cost of Rs 149.16 crore.

In a posting on his X handle, Union Minister for Railways, IT and Electronics Ashwini Vaishnaw shared the tender notification with a message "notice inviting tender for office construction to set up the South Coast Railway Zone (SCoR)."

The new zone, as per the initial announcement made by then Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in 2019 will consist of Vijayawada, Guntur and Guntakal divisions. There is no clarity whether Waltair division, the highest revenue earning division in East Coast Railway (ECoR) will be retained in deference to growing demand in various quarters locally.

Waltair division at present forms part of ECoR, has headquarters in Bhubaneswar. The promise on the zone was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the eve of 2019 general elections at a rally here. Waltair division contributed a revenue of about Rs 10,000 crore in 2023-24, almost half of ECOR's total revenue. The revenue is more because of freight coming from Kothavalasa-Kirandul line, which ferries iron ore from Bailadilla mines of NMDC from Bastar district of Chhattisgarh to Visakhapatnam and Gangavaram ports.

The new zone will not only fulfill the local aspirations, it will also help in evacuation of cargo fast from Visakhapatnam, Gangavaram, Kakinada Gateway and Deep Water and Krishnapatnam ports. New ports under PPP mode are also coming at Mulapeta, Ramayapatnam and Matchilipatnam.

According to the e-tender notification, the General Manager's office complex, which is the headquarters of the new zone, will have two basement floors, ground floor and nine floors. Tender submission process, which will begin on December 13, will end on December 27. The pre-bidding meeting with the prospective bidders is scheduled to be held on December 2.

The State government has handed over 52.2 acres to the Railways at Mudasarlova in the city, sources told Bizz Buzz. Vaishnaw during his last visit to the city before the Lok Sabha elections had declared that they are ready to start work within 15 days once the State government officials hand over the land sought for the zone to the Railways.

Though there is no official confirmation, there are reports that the laying of foundation stone for the zonal headquarters maybe included in the itinerary of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is scheduled to lay foundation stone for NTPC's Green Hydrogen Hub at Pudimadaka near here and addressing a public meeting on the Andhra University Engineering College grounds on November 29.

"Our demand has remained the same. We want continuation of Waltair division and operationalisation of the new zone without further delay from the Divisional Railway Manager's office as construction of the office buildings and quarters as part of the zonal headquarters will take at least two to three years," South Coast Railway Zone Sadhana Samiti convener JV Satyanarayana Murthy, told Bizz Buzz.