The Railway Department has initiated the process to give clarity on the jurisdiction of newly created Visakhapatnam Railway Zone by reducing the South Central Railway’s jurisdiction. To this end, the Railway officials have submitted key proposals on the re-division of the South Central Railway Zone.
The Detailed Project Report (DPR) containing details of division of divisions, changes in boundaries, revenue and operation of trains has been reported to the Railway Board. The process of finalizing the boundaries of the divisions in the Telugu states has reached its final stage.
As part of the railway zone process with Visakhapatnam as its center, the Railway Board appointed a General Manager (GM) for the South Coast Zone a few days ago. It is learned that 3 more officers will be nominated soon. The team of officials will decide how to determine the boundaries of the existing and newly formed zones and how to distribute the revenue.
The DPR is being kept confidential by the Railway officials. When it was submitted to the Parliament Assurance Committee, it was learned that the note sent by the South Central Railway only contained details of the Rayagada division and the formation of the South Coast Zone with Visakhapatnam as its center.
It was announced earlier that the Rayagada division would be formed in the East Coast Railway Zone with Bhubaneswar as its center. Some areas of AP North Andhra will come under this division. Meanwhile, there are currently 6 divisions in the South Central Railway Zone.
It seems that there are possibilities of changes and additions in the boundaries of the divisions in the context of the re-division. Accordingly, after the re-division, the Secunderabad, Hyderabad and Nanded railway divisions will be in the South Central Railway.
The current Guntakal, Guntur and Vijayawada divisions in the South Central Railway will go into the South Coast Zone. Along with these three, a railway division will be formed with Visakhapatnam as its center. With this, 4 railway divisions will be formed in the South Coast Zone. An official notification to this effect will be issued after the final decision.
