A sidetracked railway in Visakhapatnam

The Visakhapatnam-headquartered DBK Railway executed three prestigious Railway line projects without any time or cost overruns over 50 years ago. Now, even after seven years since Visakhapatnam was chosen as the headquarters of the new South Coast Railway (SCoR) zone, there has hardly been any progress on the ground.

The failure of the Railway Board to issue a Gazette notification on the SCoR so far has created doubts in the minds of the public about the Centre’s intentions. Though Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has stated that the new zone would start “soon”, he has remained silent on the issue of the Gazette notification, which is crucial for the zone to start functioning.

The Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government had announced the creation of the SCoR, with its zonal headquarters in Visakhapatnam, ahead of the general elections in February 2019. After the elections, there were hardly any steps taken to get the ball rolling. An Officer on Special Duty was appointed and a Detailed Project Report submitted, but concrete decisions have been inordinately delayed. Though Mr. Modi had visited Visakhapatnam on a couple of occasions between 2019 and 2024, and had the foundation stone laying ceremony included in his schedule in one of these visits, it was withdrawn at the eleventh hour. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders had then claimed that the operationalisation of the SCoR would benefit the YSR Congress Party without giving any advantage to them. But now the Telugu Desam Party (TDP)-Jana Sena Party (JSP)-BJP alliance government is in power; and apart from laying the foundation stone last year, progress on the Railway zone has been slow. What is stopping the ‘double-engine sarkar’ from hastening work on the zone?

Also read | SCR’s three-way split expected soon with SCoR rollout

Off the rails

Interestingly, on the other hand, some BJP leaders, including Union Minister Kishan Reddy from Telangana, have expressed concerns over the injustice done to Visakhapatnam and the north Andhra region by the Bhubaneswar-headquartered East Coast Railway (ECoR) over the last two decades. While this includes the delay in extending highly patronised trains terminating at Visakhapatnam junction to Bhubaneswar, and the failure to start new trains originating from Visakhapatnam, it also has to deal with an issue involving the Waltair divison.

At the time of the creation of the ECoR, in 2003, a large portion of the Waltair division (originating in Andhra) was given away to create the Sambalpur division in Odisha, while the remaining part was merged with the ECoR. At present the Waltair division, under the ECoR, extends over a length of 1,106.44 km, covering three States — mainly Andhra, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

Even then, as the SCoR was being created with headquarters in Visakhapatnam, Odisha staked claim over the entire Kottavalasa-Kirandul (K-K) line, which is the lifeline of the Waltair division. This is in contrast to the earlier proposal to bifurcate the K-K line.

Andhra Pradesh BJP president P.V.N. Madhav, when he was BJP MLC, had written to the then Railway Minister stating that the revenue from the Waltair Division was more than the combined revenues of Vijayawada, Guntur, and Guntakal divisions put together. He had noted: “We are willing to part with the Odisha portion of the K-K line between Koraput–Kirandul, Kuneru–Theruvali, and Koraput–Rayagada, as they belong to Odisha. But how can the backward regions of Uttarandhra [region in northern Andhra] be transferred to Rayagada Division?” However, the BJP-led NDA government is now in favour of transferring the entire K-K line to the Rayagada division in Odisha to further its political interests in that State.

Delayed progress

The lack of a gazette notification has effectively meant no work happening across any fronts. At a meeting about a decade ago, top officials of the DBK Railway Project recalled that all three major line expansion projects were completed on time because DBK Railway had full powers to take decisions, preventing procedural delays in obtaining sanctions. Now, though a General Manager has been appointed for the SCoR, Railway sources say that without the issuance of the Gazette notification, he has no powers to take major decisions. It is high time that Visakhapatnam —the growth engine of Andhra Pradesh— is given a better deal by the ‘double-engine sarkar’.