VISAKHAPATNAM: The newly formed South Coast Railway (SCoR) has moved ahead with Rs 54,479 crore worth of new line and multi-tracking projects in its first two months of operations, while laying the groundwork for a new railway zone focused on safety, capacity augmentation and passenger services.
SCoR, which became operational on June 1, is currently executing five new railway line projects and 24 multi-tracking works involving the investment. Projects worth another Rs 70,865 crore are in the pipeline, General Manager Sandeep Mathur said, addressing a press conference in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.
The zone has also taken up the construction of more than 300 Road Over Bridges and Road Under Bridges, aimed at improving safety and connectivity.
Mathur said establishing the new zone involved creating its administrative and operational systems almost from scratch, including infrastructure, manpower deployment, financial arrangements, budget allocation, redistribution of projects and operational procedures.
“Safety has been accorded the highest priority since the inception of the zone,” he stated.
The zone, spread across 3,532 route km and 6,455 track km, comprises four divisions and oversees seven loco sheds, three workshops, seven coaching depots, four freight depots and four major ports.
Senior officials have inspected nearly 1,700 route km and 3,000 track km during the first two months to review infrastructure, assess public requirements and strengthen safety standards.
Among the major projects sanctioned after the formation of SCoR are the Rs 300-crore Visakhapatnam Yard Remodelling Project, which includes six additional lines, six new platforms, electronic interlocking and platform widening, and the Rs 1,205-crore Guntakal-Ballari quadrupling project. Another Rs 20 crore has been sanctioned for crowd-management facilities at Tirupati.
The zone has also commissioned yard remodelling works at Narsapur-Vijayawada and Garudaballi-Visakhapatnam and expanded automatic block signalling on the Nellore-Telamanchi section.
Passenger services have received attention with the redevelopment of three Amrit Bharat stations including Rayanapadu, Mangalagiri and Cumbum, while work is progressing at 70 more stations. The zone operated 76 special trains carrying nearly 86,000 passengers and attached 408 additional coaches to meet demand. The zone is also undertaking a dedicated review of railway arrangements for the forthcoming Godavari Pushkarams at Rajahmundry.
SCoR recorded Rs 671 crore in originating passenger revenue and handled 29.4 million originating passengers. Its total originating earnings stood at Rs 2,493 crore, with passenger traffic registering an annual growth of three per cent.
The Railway Protection Force detected 28 NDPS cases and seized narcotic substances worth Rs 2.37 crore during the period. Action was also taken against 5,152 offenders as part of efforts to improve discipline and cleanliness.
Chief Administrative Officer/ Construction Ankush Gupta; Principal Chief Engineer BSK Rajkumar; Principal Chief Commercial Manager K Sambasiva Rao; IG & Principal Chief Security Commissioner AK Sinha and others present.
