Visakhapatnam Railway Zone will soon become a reality, as State and Central governments have already started taking steps in the right direction, said Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw during a press meet on August 19, 2024. The establishment of the South Coast Railway zone headquarters in Visakhapatnam has been a long-awaited project for all the people in Andhra Pradesh. Though this project was approved by the Central government a long time ago, it has been delayed due to the allotment of land. Recently, the land has been allocated for the project and everything is set to start the project, said the Railway Minister.
The NDA government, with Telugu Desam Party and Janasena Party, managed to return to power in Andhra Pradesh this year, and Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has been negotiating with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on various developments of the state. Among those discussions, the construction of the Visakhapatnam Railway Zone stood as one of the priorities. Ashwini Vaishnaw also mentioned that the present TPD-led government is prioritizing the construction of the zone.
Allocation of land became the major obstacle during YSRCP’s regime, which led to the delay in laying the foundation stone for zonal headquarters. Last month, Chandrababu Naidu informed the CPI leaders that the State government had handed over land for the South Coast Railway Zone (SCoR) headquarters. He also mentioned that he requested the Central government to speed up the process as it has been delayed for a long time.
The project was announced by the previous Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in 2019. According to the press release during that time, the South Coast Railway (SCoR) zone was proposed to cover the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Telangana, as well as parts of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
The new railway zone will comprise the existing Guntur and Vijayawada divisions. Waltair division will be divided into two parts one will be incorporated into a new zone, remaining will be converted into a new division. Now that all the decks are clear, the South Coast Railway Zone (SCoR) project is ready to see the light with Visakhapatnam as its zonal headquarters.
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