South Coast Railway zone

The South Coast Railway Zone (SCoR) is a new Indian railway zone, headquartered at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.[1]

South Coast Railway
Overview
HeadquartersVisakhapatnam
Reporting markSCoR
LocaleAndhra Pradesh,Telangana , Karnataka
Dates of operation2019 (Announced)–
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, Guntur, Guntakal

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 Vijayawada division. The other part of Srikakulam district will be merged into Khurda division of 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).[3] It also covers a minor portion of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.[4]

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:[4]

Performance and earnings

The zone operates more than 500 trains during peak season to clear the rush of passengers.[5] For the financial year 2020-2021, the zone is expected to collect ₹13,000 crore (US$1.8 billion)[6] 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.

Workshops

The zone has mechanical workshops at Tirupati, Rayanapadu and upcoming at Vadlapudi (near Visakhapatnam). There are coach maintenance depots at Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Tirupati, Guntur, Kakinada, Narsapur, Guntakal and Machilipatnam. And new CDO construction at NLPD

Sheds

The Diesel Loco Shed at Visakhapatnam, the largest diesel shed in Indian Railways, has a capacity to accommodate 300 diesel locomotives.

It holds WDM-2 – 57, WDS-6 – 10, WDG-3A – 96 alongside 3 rail busses.

The Electric Loco Shed is currently holding 231 electric locomotives. While, the Electric Loco Shed at Visakhapatnam can accommodate 198 locomotives which includes WAG-5 – 93, WAM-4 – 10, WAG-7 – 28, WAP-4 – 21,WAP-7 – 5,[8] Indian locomotive class WAG-5P – 4, WAG-6 – 11, WAG-9H – 23, WAG5TAOCHI – 8.

The Electric Loco Shed at Vijayawada handles a capacity of 222 locomotives which includes WAP-4 – 68, WAP-7 – 112,WAG-5 – 43. Also the diesel loco shed of Vijayawada accommodates 160 locomotives which includes WDM-2 - 3, WDP-1 - 17. WDM-2 over aged - 12, DPC's - 31, Rail buses - 2, SPART - 1 and 93 Demu Coaches

The zone also has diesel loco sheds at, Gooty and Guntakal. It also has electric loco sheds at Guntakal. It has an electric trip shed at Renigunta and has one MEMU Car shed at Rajahmundry.

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.[9]

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 Vishakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntakal and Rayanapadu, Guntur have healthcare facilities serving exclusively for the employees of Indian railways and their families.[10]

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. Geetanath, V. (12 February 2018). "South Coast Railway could be the new railway zone for AP". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  4. "History". South Central Railway. South Central Railway CMS Team. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  5. Geetanath, V. (16 May 2019). "South Central Railway micromanaging operations for better functioning". The Hindu. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  6. G, Sarthak (3 March 2019). "SCR dreads drastic fall in revenue post bifurcation". The Times of India. Hyderabad. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  7. "Railwire wifi stations project | free wi-fi". www.railwire.co.in. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  8. "[IRFCA] Indian Railways Locomotive Roster List". irfca.org.
  9. "[IRFCA] Indian Railways FAQ: Locomotive Sheds and Workshops". www.irfca.org. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  10. "Ministry of Railways (Railway Board)". www.indianrailways.gov.in. Retrieved 28 February 2019.

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