BHUBANESWAR: Even as Indian Railways on Wednesday decided to create South Coast Railway (SCoR), a new zone in Visakhapatnam, preliminary reports indicate that it will not have much impact on the East Coast Railway (ECoR).
As per the decision, the new railway zone will comprise Guntakal, Guntur and Vijaywada divisions. While the Waltair division will be split into two, one part of it will be incorporated in SCoR and merged with Vijaywada division. The remaining portion of Waltair will be converted into a new division having its headquarters at Rayagada under the ECoR. South Central Railway (SCR) will comprise Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Nanded divisions.
Sources said though the delimitation of railway portions has not been done yet, a major loss for ECoR is unlikely as revenue earning portions of Waltair division, Bailadila mines of Kirandul and Bacheli, will continue to remain with Rayagada division.
“Since there will be a new division at Rayagada and it will be under the jurisdiction of ECoR, there will be no sharing of revenue generated due to freight movement from Bailadila mines. The Odisha and Chhattisgarh portions of Waltair division are major sources of revenue for ECoR,” said a retired railway official.