AMARAVATI — The South Coast Railway zone officially commenced operations from Visakhapatnam on Monday, marking the realization of a four-decade-old public demand and a massive administrative restructuring of the network.
The new zone stands as the 18th independent railway zone in the country. It shifts the primary administrative and operational command of regional rail logistics directly to the coast of Andhra Pradesh.
The newly operational entity assumes structural jurisdiction over 3,532 route kilometers and 6,454 kilometers of track. It brings the Vijayawada, Guntur, and Guntakal divisions under its wing, alongside a newly carved Visakhapatnam Division.
The reorganization split the old Waltair Division, allocating its southern sections to Visakhapatnam and transferring the northern sections to the newly created Rayagada Division.
A workforce of approximately 62,000 employees will power the zone across its various territories. While construction progresses on a permanent 52.2-acre headquarters campus at Mudasarlova, the administrative core has started functioning out of temporary offices at Siripuram.
Officials project the zone will manage nearly 100 million tonnes of cargo annually, heavily driven by port-linked logistics, coal, iron ore, and industrial corridors.