Railway Board clears revised DPR SCoR Zone with headquarters in Vizag. One floor in VMRDA's Deck multilayer parking complex maybe taken on lease

The operationalisation of South Coast Railway Zone (SCoR) with headquarters in Visakhapatnam appears to be imminent with the Railway Board formally giving its stamp of approval to the revised Detailed Project Report (DPR).

The government has appointed Sandeep Mathur as the new General Manager before formation of the zone to oversee the preparatory arrangements. Tenders have already been floated for the new zonal buildings at Mudasarlova at a cost of Rs.149.16 crore. A 12-floor building will come as the main administrative block on a 50-acre land allotted by the State Government. "Steps are being taken in the right direction for early operationalisation of the new zone," a senior railway official told Bizz Buzz.

Earlier this month, the railway authorities approached Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority (VMRDA) for allotment of a space at a newly built multi-layer parking-cum-commercial complex built at Siripuram. The building, which is yet to be inaugurated, is named Deck. Sixth floor in the building has been sought for the office of the SCoR General Manager till the new buildings are ready for occupation at Mudasarlova.

The zone is being carved out of Bhubaneswar-headquartered East Coast Railway (ECoR) Zone following an overwhelming demand from the locals to ensure operational efficiency, boost industrial and agricultural exports, improve hassle-free connectivity with Visakhapatnam, Gangavaram and other ports in Andhra Pradesh. Following a public demand, the Visakhapatnam division is being retained by merging some parts with the newly created Rayagada Rayagada division. At the time of bifurcation, the formation of the division was promised. After several twists and turns and a categoric promise by Prime Minister Narenda Modi on the eve of general elections in 2019, the Ministry of Railways formally accepted the proposal for formation of the new zone. Incidentally, the formation of the BJP Government in Odisha made the process easy for the zone's formation.

Though the DPR was approved by the Union Cabinet on February 28, 2019, a revised DPR necessitated due to inordinate delay and changes made in the jurisdiction of the zone. The Prime Minister laid the stone for the zone on January 8 following which the Union Cabinet post-facto approved the final DPR with partial modification.

Visakhapatnam division has been performing consistently earning a revenue of over Rs.10,000 crore and handling 76.48 million tonnes of freight. Transportation of iron ore from NMDC mines in Bailadila in Chattisgarh through Kirandul-Kothavalasa railway line, considered the lifeline for the railways and export and import cargo by RINL, HPCL, Coromandel Fertilizers, BHEL and other industries fetch a lot of freight to the railways.