Lok Sabha Question No. 373 (STARRED), answered on 2026-03-18
Subject: South Coast Railway Zone HQ at Visakhapatnam
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Y S Avinash Reddy

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 373 TO BE ANSWERED ON 18.03.2026

## SOUTH COAST RAILWAY ZONE HQ AT VISAKHAPATNAM

## *373. SHRI Y S AVINASH REDDY:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the year-wise details of fund allocation and expenditure for establishment of South Coast Railway Zone HQ at Visakhapatnam since its announcement;
- (b) the current status of land acquisition and administrative infrastructure development as on February 2026; and
- (c) the details of the timeline for the phased operationalization of the zone?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND

ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (c): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## STATEMENT REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (c)  OF  STARRED QUESTION NO.373 TO BE ANSWERED ON 18.03.2026 IN LOK SABHA

(a) to (c): For setting up headquarters of new South Coast Railway (SCoR), 52.2  Acre  land  at  Mudasarlova,  Visakhapatnam  has  been  handed over  by Government  of  Andhra  Pradesh  to  Railways  in  August  2024.  Foundation stone for new South Coast Zone has been laid in Jan 2025. The  work  of  'Setting  up  of  South  Coast  Railways'  Zone  HQ'  has  been sanctioned at cost of ₹106.89 Cr. Tender for SCoR HQ office building has been  awarded  and  the  construction  for  this  new  headquarters  office building  has  been  taken  up.  Foundation  work  has  been  completed  and balance works are in progress. An allocation of ₹55.0 Cr. was made during year 2025-26 and an expenditure of ₹32.31 Cr. has been incurred so far. In addition, works costing about ₹157.93 Cr. for construction of associated works, residential accommodation etc. have also been sanctioned. In the meanwhile, to operationalise SCoR HQ, a Memorandum  of Understanding has been signed with Vishakhapatnam Metropolitan Regional  Development  Authority  (VMRDA)/Government  of  Andhra  Pradesh for hiring  of  building  for  makeshift  SCoR  HQ.  This  makeshift  office accommodation at 'The Deck' at VMRDA is also ready for occupation.

Other steps taken to operationalise SCoR HQ are as under:

-  General  Manager  and  Senior  officers  from  various  disciplines  have been posted.
-  Control  Office  setup  has  also  been  created  at  the  makeshift  SCoR headquarter.
-  Options have been invited from non-gazetted staff for posting to the new zone.

Further, to improve railway infrastructure in Andhra  Pradesh state, following steps have been taken:

## Railway Budget:

Budget allocation  in  the  recent  years  has  increased  significantly.  Budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/partly in the State of Andhra Pradesh is as under:

| Period    | Outlay                              |
|-----------|-------------------------------------|
| 2009-2014 | ₹886 Cr./year (including Telangana) |
| 2025-2026 | ₹9,417 Cr. (more than 10 times)     |

## Track Construction:

The details of commissioning/laying of new track falling fully/partly in the State of Andhra Pradesh during 2009-14 and 2014-25 is as under:

| Period   | New Track Commissioned   | Average Commissioning of new tracks   |
|----------|--------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 363 Km                   | 72.6 Km per year                      |
| 2014-25  | 1,582 Km                 | 143.82 Km per year (Nearly 2 times)   |

## Projects sanctioned:

As on 01.04.2025, 39 projects (12 New Line and 27 Doubling), covering a total length of 4,499 Km length, costing ₹70,232 Cr., falling fully/partly in Andhra Pradesh, have been sanctioned, out of which 1,178 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹28,039 Cr. has been incurred upto March 2025. The status of the work is summarized as:

| Category                 |   No. of projects | Total Length (Km)   | Length Commissioned till March, 2025 (in Km)   | Total Exp. upto March, 2025 (₹ in Cr.)   |
|--------------------------|-------------------|---------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|
| New Line                 |                12 | 1595                | 199                                            | 6,413                                    |
| Multi- tracking/Doubling |                27 | 2904                | 979                                            | 21,626                                   |
| Total                    |                39 | 4,499               | 1,178                                          | 28,039                                   |

Zonal Railway wise details of Railway projects are made available in public domain on Indian Railway's website.

Recently completed Projects:

Details of some of the recently completed projects falling fully/partly in the State of Andhra Pradesh are as under:

|   SN | Name of Project                                                                                               | Cost (₹ in Cr.)   |
|------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------|
|    1 | Vijaywada - Gudivada - Bhimavaram - Narsapur, Gudivada-Machlipatnam & Bhimavaram-Nidadavolu doubling (221 Km) | 4,688             |
|    2 | Guntur-Tenali doubling (24 Km)                                                                                | 205               |
|    3 | Nandyal-Yerraguntla new line (126 Km)                                                                         | 1,050             |
|    4 | Jaggayyapeta-Mellacheruvu-Janpahad new line (48 Km)                                                           | 737               |
|    5 | Obulavaripalle-Krishnapattnam new line (113 Km)                                                               | 2,300             |
|    6 | Vizianagaram-Kottavalsa 3rd Line (35 Km)                                                                      | 285               |
|    7 | Raichur-Guntakal doubling (81 Km)                                                                             | 388               |

|   8 | Guntakal-Kalluru doubling (41 Km)     | 410   |
|-----|---------------------------------------|-------|
|   9 | Yelahanka-Penukonda doubling (123 Km) | 1,104 |
|  10 | Gooty-Dharmavaram doubling (90 Km)    | 1,800 |

## Ongoing Projects:

Some  of  the  projects  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Andhra  Pradesh which have been taken up are as under:

|   S.N | Name of Project                                              | Cost (₹ in Cr.)   |
|-------|--------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------|
|     1 | Kotipalli-Narsapur new line (57 Km)                          | 2,120             |
|     2 | Nadikude-Srikalahasti new line (309 Km)                      | 3,122             |
|     3 | Rayadurg-Kalyandurg-Tumkur new line (207 Km)                 | 2,496             |
|     4 | Marikuppam-Kuppam new line (24 Km)                           | 297               |
|     5 | Malugur - Palasamudram new line (18 Km)                      | 342               |
|     6 | Malkangiri- Bhadrachalam - Pandurangapuram new line (174 Km) | 3,592             |
|     7 | Kottavalasa-Koraput Doubling (189 Km)                        | 2,500             |
|     8 | Vijaywada- Gudur 3rd line (287 Km)                           | 6,509             |
|     9 | Guntakal- Guntur Doubling (401 Km)                           | 4,306             |
|    10 | Pennukonda-Dharmavarm Doubling (42 Km)                       | 308               |
|    11 | Gooty-Pendekallu Doubling(29 Km)                             | 352               |
|    12 | Duvvada - Simhachalam North 3rd & 4th line (21 Km)           | 356               |
|    13 | Kottavalasa - Vizianagram 4th line (35 Km)                   | 493               |
|    14 | Gudur-Renigunta 3rd Line (83 Km)                             | 877               |
|    15 | Nergundi - Palasa- Vizianagaram 3rd line (385 Km)            | 4,963             |

In addition to these, to improve connectivity of Amravati, following projects have been taken up:

Errupalem-Amravati- Namburu new line (57 Km)

Errupalem-Namburu (57 km) new line project has been sanctioned at a cost of ₹2047 Cr. An outlay of ₹171 Cr. has been provided for this project for the year 2025-26. Project is declared  as 'Special  Railway Project' and Competent  Authority  for  Land  Acquisition(CALA)  is  nominated  for  land acquisition. Land acquisition has been taken up.

Guntakal- Guntur doubling (401 Km)

Guntakal- Guntur (401 Km) doubling project has been sanctioned at a cost of  ₹4306  Cr.  An  expenditure  of  ₹3974  Cr.  has  been  incurred  upto  March 2025 and an outlay of ₹149 Cr. has been provided for this project for the Financial Year 2025-26.

Sections Commissioned: 344 Km

Status of the project is as under:

-  Guntakal-Panyam (129 Km): Commissioned.

-  Guntur-Diguvametta (215 Km): Commissioned.

-  Panyam-Diguvametta (57 Km), status is as under:

|   SN | Activities   |   Scope | Status                                                        |
|------|--------------|---------|---------------------------------------------------------------|
|    1 | Major Bridge |      14 | 9 Completed and work has been taken up in balance 5 bridges.  |
|    2 | Station      |       5 | 3 Completed and work has been taken up in balance 2 stations. |

Guntur- Bibinagar doubling (239 Km)

Guntur-Bibinagar (239 Km) doubling project has been sanctioned at a cost of ₹2853 Cr. An expenditure of ₹103 Cr. has been incurred upto March 2025 and  an  outlay  of  ₹452  Cr.  has  been  provided  for  this  project  for  the Financial  Year  2025-26.  Project  is  declared  as  'Special  Railway  Project' and CALA is nominated for land acquisition.

In last three Years i.e. 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and current financial year 2025-26, 65 surveys (15 New Line, 50 Doubling) covering a total length of 6,985  Km  has  been  taken  up  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Andhra Pradesh.

Sanction  of  any  railway  project  depends  upon  many  parameters/factors which include the following:

- Anticipated traffic projections and remunerativeness of the proposed route
- First and last mile connectivity provided by the project
- Connection of missing links and providing additional route
- Augmentation of congested/saturated lines
- Demands  raised  by  State  Governments/Central  Ministries/Public representatives,
- Railway's operational requirements
- Socio-economic considerations
- Overall availability of funds

Completion of Railway project/s depends on various factors which include the following:

-  Land acquisition
-  Forest clearance

-  Shifting of infringing utilities
-  Statutory clearances from various authorities
-  Geological and topographical conditions of area
-  Law and order situation in the area of project site
-  Number of working months in a year for particular project site etc.

All these factors affect the completion time and cost of the projects.

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