New railway zone to get on track soon with Visakhapatnam as headquarters

At a meeting held in Guntur, BJP Member of Parliament (MP), GVL Narasimha Rao said that the Central Government is prioritizing the Visakhapatnam Railway Zone proposal made by the State Government of Andhra Pradesh. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, is determined on getting the new South Coast Railway (SCoR) zone, with its headquarters at Visakhapatnam, on track as per the promise made by him. The MP pointed out that the Central Government has already sanctioned a huge amount of funds for the development of Andhra Pradesh.

MP Narasimha Rao feels positive about the SCoR, headquartered at Visakhapatnam, and says that it will be fully functional very soon. He said that the recent visit by Nitin Gadkari to Andhra Pradesh is a sign of the Central Government’s support to the state. Earlier this week, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Nitin Gadkari, had visited Andhra Pradesh and inaugurated several projects worth over Rs. 3 lakh crore. As a part of this, he had approved 30 Rail Over Bridges (ROBs). These funds sanctioned by the Central Government are directed at the development of roads in the state. The Visakhapatnam-Raipur Greenfield Express Highway will be functional very soon and several Multi-Modal Logistics Parks (MMLP) have also been granted across the state.

He expressed that the AP State Government must focus on land acquisition for the National Highway, railway, and other development projects and hand over these lands to the Central Government. Speaking about the recent infrastructural development in the state, the MP informed that the highway expansion has doubled during the current government.

The South Coast Railway (SCoR) zone was announced in 2019 and will have its headquarters at Visakhapatnam. The SCoR has been further divided into Waltair, Vijayawada, Guntur, and Gunthakal divisions. This newly formed zone has not been operationalised yet and is expected to be fully functional soon.