NEW DELHI: Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav on Friday, has promised that the headquarters of the Visakhapatnam-based South Coast Railway (SCoR) Zone will be operational soon. YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) Parliamentary Party leader V. Vijayasai Reddy and party Lok Sabha floor leader MP P Mithun Reddy met the Union Minister at his office in the Parliament on Friday. They brought to the notice of Ashwini Vaishnaw that there was an extraordinary delay in the commencement of operations, years after the Railway Minister announced the setting up of the South Coast Railway Zone with Visakhapatnam as the main headquarters.

Responding to this, the Railway Minister assured the YSRCP MPs that the Visakhapatnam Railway Zone would start operations immediately. Vijayasai Reddy and Mithun Reddy said that they would continue to work in good faith in tandem with the Central Government with regards to the implementation of the promises made in the Andhra Pradesh Partition Act of 2014.

The South Coast Railway Zone will comprise existing Guntakal, Guntur, and Vijayawada divisions. Waltair division shall be split into two parts. One part of the Waltair division will be incorporated in the new zone i.e. in South Coast Railway and the other will be merged with the neighboring Vijayawada division. The remaining portion of the Waltair division shall be converted into a new division with headquarters at Rayagada under East Coast Railway (ECoR). South Central Railway will comprise Hyderabad, Secunderabad, and Nanded divisions.

As Parliamentary Party Leader, I along with LS Floor Leader @MithunReddyYSRC met Union Railway Min @AshwiniVaishnaw & it gives me pleasure to share that Hon'ble Minister has approved immediate operationalising of long pending South Coast Railway Zone with Hq at Visakhapatnam. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/2OSeb0PTYp
— Vijayasai Reddy V (@VSReddy_MP) December 10, 2021