South Coast Railway GM announces ₹54,479 crore projects for new zone
South Coast Railway (SCoR) General Manager Sandeep Mathur announced on Thursday that the newly formed zone is executing five new line projects and 24 multi-tracking works with a combined investment of about ₹54,479 crore. Speaking at a press conference at the SCoR headquarters in Visakhapatnam, Mr. Mathur said the zone, formed just two months ago, has been built from scratch, covering infrastructure creation, manpower deployment, financial arrangements, and adoption of operational rule books.
The zone spans four divisions covering nearly 3,532 route kilometres and 6,455 track kilometres. It oversees seven loco sheds, three workshops, seven coaching depots, and four freight depots, and serves four major ports along the eastern coast. The General Manager said SCoR expects originating revenue of over ₹15,500 crore and freight loading exceeding 100 million tonnes annually, which would place it among the top freight-carrying railway zones in the country.
Highlighting the scale of development, Mr. Mathur said the zone is currently executing projects worth about ₹54,479 crore, with an additional ₹70,865 crore worth of projects in the pipeline. These include new railway lines and multi-tracking works aimed at enhancing connectivity and capacity. The zone is also constructing more than 300 road over bridges and road under bridges to improve safety and ease traffic congestion at level crossings.
In the two months since its formation, SCoR has secured several key project sanctions. Among them are the ₹300 crore Visakhapatnam yard remodelling project, which includes six additional lines, six new platforms (numbered 8 to 14), electronic interlocking, and platform widening. The zone also received approval for the ₹1,205 crore Guntakal-Ballari quadrupling project and ₹20 crore for crowd management facilities at Tirupati railway station.
Mr. Mathur noted that several works have already been commissioned. These include yard remodelling at Narsapur-Vijayawada and Garudaballi-Visakhapatnam, expansion of automatic block signalling in the Nellore-Telamanchi section, and installation of the Kavach train protection system on nearly 100 locomotives. The first 100-km section of Kavach is expected to be commissioned by the end of the year.
On passenger amenities, the General Manager said SCoR is reviewing railway arrangements for the upcoming Godavari Pushkarams at Rajamahendravaram, a major religious event expected to draw large crowds. He also noted that Visakhapatnam enjoys the advantages of a big city without the traffic congestion of a metro, making it an ideal location for the zonal headquarters.
