The AP State Reorganisation Act, 2014, says, “The Central Government shall take all necessary measures as enumerated in the Thirteenth Schedule for the progress and sustainable development of the successor States within a period of ten years from the appointed day” and the Thirteenth Schedule further states, “Indian Railways shall, within six months from the appointed day, examine establishing a new railway zone in the successor State of Andhra Pradesh and take an expeditious decision thereon”.
This is a long pending demand especially in Visakhapatnam region for over a decade. People today believe they and their future generations would gain with the socio-economic benefits a new railway zone would bring.
The Thirteenth Schedule of the Act states, “The Government of India shall, within six months from the appointed day, examine the feasibility of establishing a Vizag-Chennai industrial corridor along the lines of Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and take within such period an expeditious decision thereon.” Development of the corridor requires a separate railway zone since railway connectivity and industrial corridor go hand in hand. As this entire corridor falls under AP, a separate zone must be in the State. The present arrangement of being in two different zones with headquarters in different states, Telangana and
Odisha, shall not serve the purpose.
Railways, being the lifeline of any economy, plays an important role in the development of a state. In bifurcated AP, the largest city, the major port and industrial hub is Visakhapatnam. Holistic development being closely intertwined with railways, progress cannot be achieved as Visakhapatnam is in another zone.
With vast coastline and ports like Visakhapatnam, Gangavaram, Kakinada, Krishnapatnam and Machilipatnam and further with upcoming ports like Nizampatnam, Vadarevu, Bhimunipatnam, Kalingapatnam and Durgarajapuram, the Railways can expect increased traffic from these ports. Presently, ports of AP carry low value bulk products like iron ore, coal, limestone, etc. Visakhapatnam and Gangavaram ports in Visakhapatnam city are the future trans-shipment ports due to their central location on the east coast as well as being the only deepest ports that can handle very large to ultra-large vessels. Further in Visakhapatnam, deep sea is hardly 1 km from coast while in Mumbai, Kandla, Haldia and Paradeep, one has to travel more than 100 km farther into the sea.
Hence, Visakhapatnam is the future. Visakhapatnam has 800 acres of Railway land free from hindrances making it the most ideal location for setting up a Zonal HQ due to excellent railway infrastructure apart from being hub of economic activities and excellent connectivity by all modes of transport.
Though the announcement of a new zone is a political decision, the formation of a new South Coast Railway Zone makes sound economic and technical sense. Setting it up is a win-win for the region as well as the Indian Railways because it will immensely enhance the latter’s revenues. There is a feeling among the political sections in Odisha that the loss of Waltair division means loss of revenue to the East Coast Railway, and it shall be left out with only two divisions which is against the principle of Railway Zone having minimum three divisions.
There is nothing called “viability” or “non-viability” in Railways since every Zone functions under one umbrella i.e., the Railway Board. All the earnings as well as the expenditures are accounted for through the Consolidated Fund of India. Contrary to the belief that each zone is functionally independent and works as a profit centre, all the zones work as a single unit.
In 1998, when BJP came to power, they created the South East Central Railway with Headquarters at Bilaspur even prior to the formation of Chhattisgarh, the smallest of all zones. Then there were only two divisions viz. Bilaspur and Nagpur. A new Raipur division with just 292 km was created from Bilaspur division and 24 km of Sambalpur division of erstwhile SER. Khurda Road, presently the fourth largest earning division, is adding about 610 km lines with 332 km and 289 km north and south of Bhubaneswar respectively. Khurda Road Division shall be over 1400 km, which is very large and an operational nightmare dealing with over 100 million tons of freight. Hence, from an operational point of view, Khurda Road Division can be split by carving another division north of Cuttuck headquartered at Jajpur and Keonjhar Road. Undivided Waltair division could go with the newly-formed Zone.
There was always a feeling among Odisha politicians that Odisha portions of Waltair divisions should remain with them by carving out a separate division at Koraput or Rayagada.
There was a talk to carve out a different Rayagada division from Waltair division. Operationally, the entire KK line and KR line and VR line had forward and backward linkages with the Visakhapatnam port for all operations and splitting it further will not serve the purpose for Indian Railways. There shall always be inter-zonal operational conflicts. But if the splitting of Waltair division is inevitable, then the portion of KK line from Koraput to Kirundal, Koraput- Rayagada and Rayagada-Theruvali portions of Waltair division can be split to form a new division at either Rayagada or Koraput. However in the bargainm Palasa-Ichhapuram portion of Khurda Road should be transferred to Waltair division. At the same time, the Waltair Division should renamed Visakhapatnam division.
Konathala Ramakrishna
Former Minister, Former Parliament Member