New Railway Zone-VSKP

Demand for Spl Rly Zone picks up momentum

Visakha Railway Zone Sadhana Samiti members to meet prime minister

A view of the Visakhapatnam Railway Station Photo: HANS

Machavaram Sarma

Visakhapatnam: The long-pending demand to make Visakhapatnam Railway Division as Special Railway Zone is picking up momentum with the members of Visakha Railway Zone Sadhana Samiti, which was formed involving all political parties, gearing up to meet Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to put forward the demand of formation of Special Railway Zone.

The Visakha Railway Station, which was set up in 1892, has been progressing in all respects with the growth in cargo handling from the Visakhapatnam Port Trust since 1933. The Railway authorities had formed the Waltair Division in 1962 and another division in Sambalpur following pressure from the Odisha government in 1984. In a hasty step, the Indian Railways had shifted the Waltair Division headquarters from Visakhapatnam to Bhubaneswar during 2003. Since then, the trouble started for north Andhra people.

The Waltair Division earns annual revenue of Rs 4,200 crore, more than half of the revenue of East Coast Railway. However, not a single additional track has been laid so far. The staff residential quarters are in a dilapidated condition and there has been no maintenance due to lack of funds. 

The authorities have extended all important trains to Bhubaneswar with a cut in the reservation quota for north coastal Andhra commuters. Many important trains are being diverted through Duvvada, causing severe inconvenience to the commuters.

In addition, candidates appearing for the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) examinations have been facing a lot of problems as the test centre has been shifted from Visakhapatnam to Bhubaneswar. A lot of injustice has been done to north Andhra candidates in the recent loco pilots’ recruitment too.

The Visakha Railway Zone Sadhana Samiti has put forward many important demands, which include increase in the number of platforms from the existing eight to 12, set up a new railway terminal, lay a third track between Gopalapatnam and Visakhapatnam to avoid late running of trains, introduce new direct trains to Mysore, Bengaluru, Tirupati, New Delhi, Shiridi, Varanasi, Kollam, Araku, Bhadrachalam Road and Kakinada, replace old coaches in all important trains, introduce a pantry car in the Janma Bhoomi Express, increase the number of coaches to Garib Rath Express, take up wagon factory construction and Freight Corridor and the doubling of Kottavalasa and Kirandole line.

Most of the local intellectuals, businessmen, industrialists and educationists have extended their cooperation to the Visakha Railway Zone Sadhana Samiti in its endeavour in getting a separate railway zone.