Parliament Question: South Coast Railway Zone HQ at Visakhapatnam

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. ***** §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. Contd...2/--2- 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: New Track Period Average Commissioning of new tracks Commissioned 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: Contd...3/--3- Category No. of Total Length Total Exp. upto projects Length Commissioned March, 2025 (Km) till March, 2025 (₹ in Cr.) (in Km) New Line 12 1595 199 6,413 Multi- 27 2904 979 21,626 tracking/Doubling 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, 4,688 Gudivada-Machlipatnam & Bhimavaram-Nidadavolu doubling (221 Km) 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 Contd...4/--4- 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 3,592 line (174 Km) 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 Contd...5/--5- 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 14 9 Completed and work has been taken up in Bridge balance 5 bridges. 2 Station 5 3 Completed and work has been taken up in balance 2 stations. Contd...6/--6- 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 Contd...7/--7-  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. *****