South Coast Railway
Overview
HeadquartersVisakhapatnam
Reporting markSCoR
LocaleAndhra Pradesh,Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu
Dates of operationNot operational–
Technical
Track gauge5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm)
Electrification25 kV 50 Hz AC
Length3,496 km (2,172 mi)
Other
WebsiteSouth Coast Railway Waltair

South Coast Railway Vijayawada

South Coast Railway Guntur

South Coast Railway Guntakal

South Coast Railway Zone (SCoR) has been announced as the newest railway zone of the Indian Railways and is headquartered at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.[1] The formal notification for operationalization of this Zone is yet to be issued.

Jurisdiction

South Coast Railway will be headquartered at Visakhapatnam and have three divisions. The existing Waltair division will be bifurcated into two parts. The Andhra Pradesh part of the division, that includes Visakhapatnam district, Vizianagaram district, and a part of Srikakulam district will be merged into neighbouring waltair division. The other part of Srikakulam district will be converted into a new division with headquarter at Rayagada under East Coast Railway (ECoR).[2] South Coast Railway spreads over the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana (except Kurnool of Hyderabad division and Jaggaiahpet of Secunderabad division).It also covers a minor portion of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Route Length

The 1,106 route km of the present Waltair division is proposed to be distributed between East Coast Railway – Rayagada division (541 km), Khurda division (115 km) and Vijayawada division (450 km). With the proposed jurisdictions, SCoR will have division-wise route km and Running track km as: Vijayawada 1,414 and 2,631 respectively, Guntakal 1,452 and 2,145 and Guntur 630 and 661 respectively.

Jurisdiction of SCoR after Waltair Division is merged with Vijayawada Division

This is an important mineral route with ruling gradient of 1 in 60 with some block sections prone for stalling of loaded freight trains. Hence it is preferable to fix inter zonal boundary in such a way that either sides of interchange point at a station which has operational feasibility and flexibility in the form of more running lines to regulate trains and also availability of field officers and supervisors for troubleshooting. Keeping these factors in view these boundaries were fixed from 106 km from Kottavalasa to including Araku station.

  • Vizianagaram - Raipur line: Vizianagaram - Kuneru(inclusive) Controlled by Vijayawada (BZA) division of SCoR.
  • Vizianagaram - Howrah main line: Vizianagaram - Naupada Junction (Excluding) Controlled by Vijayawada (BZA) division of SCoR.

Divisions

The zone covers the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and parts of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. It has three divisions:[3]

Performance and earnings

The zone operates more than 500 trains during peak season to clear the rush of passengers.[4] For the financial year 2020–2021, the zone is expected to collect ₹13,000 crore (equivalent to ₹150 billion or US$1.9 billion in 2023)[5] per annum as per the DPR of SCoR.

Infrastructure

Wi-Fi Stations

Many railway stations in South Coast Railway Zone are Wi-Fi enabled, provided by Railwire in association with Google which are as follows.

Tirupati, Rajahmundry, Kakinada Town, Nellore, Srikakulam Road, Bhimavaram Town, Samalkot Junction, Eluru, Kadapa, Proddatur, Renigunta Junction, Anantapur, Ongole, Guntakal Junction, Gudur Junction, Tadepalligudem, Tenali Junction, Tuni, Vizianagaram, Chirala, Yadgir,Machilipatnam and Raichur

Depots in divisions

The zone has passenger coach care depots at Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Narsapur, Machilipatnam, Vijayawada in VIJAYAWADA Division. Nallapadu, Guntur in GUNTUR Division. Tirupati and Guntakal in GUNTAKAL Division. Additionally Vijayawada and Gooty have wagon maintenance depots.[7]

Training Institutes

The zone has training institutes for imparting and learning railway techniques serving both Indian as well as foreign railway staffs at Vijayawada and Guntakal.

Healthcare

Railway Hospitals which are located in these areas, Div. Hospital at Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntakal and Rayanapadu, Guntur have healthcare facilities serving exclusively for the employees of Indian railways and their families.[8]

Loco Sheds

This zone has Electric loco sheds at Electric Loco Shed, Vijayawada, Electric Loco Shed, Visakhapatnam and diesel loco sheds at Diesel Loco Shed, Guntakal, Diesel Loco Shed, Gooty, Diesel Loco Shed, Visakhapatnam,Diesel Loco Shed, Vijayawada . This zone also has 2 Electric Loco trip sheds at Guntakal and Renigunta and plans to convert the trip shed in Guntakal to an electric loco shed.

References

  1. ↑ "Cabinet approves South Coast Railway zone". Press Information Bureau.
  2. ↑ "South coast railway zone press release". Pib.nic.in. 28 February 2019.
  3. ↑ "History". South Central Railway. South Central Railway CMS Team. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  4. ↑ Geetanath, V. (16 May 2019). "South Central Railway micromanaging operations for better functioning". The Hindu. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  5. ↑ G, Sarthak (3 March 2019). "SCR dreads drastic fall in revenue post bifurcation". The Times of India. Hyderabad. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  6. ↑ "Railwire wifi stations project | free wi-fi". www.railwire.co.in. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  7. ↑ "[IRFCA] Indian Railways FAQ: Locomotive Sheds and Workshops". www.irfca.org. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  8. ↑ "Ministry of Railways (Railway Board)". www.indianrailways.gov.in. Retrieved 28 February 2019.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.