Visakhapatnam likely to get its second full-fledged railway station at Marripalem

The long-standing issue of rails being halted up to an hour at the outskirts of Visakhapatnam has been resolved after a long wait. After reviewing several factors, the railway officials have reportedly proposed that the existing Marripalem Railway station be revamped into a full-fledged railway station to ease the burden on Visakhapatnam railway station.

The cost of the proposed project is reportedly estimated to be around Rs 76 crores. As a part of the project, the Visakhapatnam New Goods Complex (Marripalem yard) will be revamped into a new coaching terminal, connecting the station to the goods yard. Once revamped, the complex, in Vizag, would house six new platforms, including two island platforms.

Additionally, four new railway lines with two main lines and two loop lines in between Gopalapatnam–Marripalem are likely to be laid. These lines would be integrated into a terminal connected to Visakhapatnam railway station. The proposed coaching complex would consist of lines to facilitate the inspection and administration of the rails which are halted at the terminal. Further, two pit lines are yet to be constructed to ease the on-going activities.

The railway terminal will also be equipped with 2 Foot over Bridges (FOB). Additionally, the officials are gearing up to strengthen the special railway signal system in order to accommodate the increasing traffic. Reportedly, most of the sanctioned money will be spent in this regard. A comprehensive project estimation report was submitted to the East Coast Railway zone for their approval of the same.