The hiving of South Central Railway (SCR), reducing it to three divisions from the current six with the creation of the South Coast Railway (SCoR) Zone — headquartered at Visakhapatnam (AP) — may finally take shape in the next couple of months. A formal notification announcing the new zone is likely to be issued by April 1, according to top railway sources.
With the restructuring, SCR will be left with Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Nanded divisions. The new SCoR Zone will comprise Vijayawada, Guntur, Guntakal and Visakhapatnam (a truncated Waltair division). Another portion of the erstwhile Waltair division will be merged with the East Coast Railway (ECoR), forming the new Rayagada division alongside the existing Khurda Road and Sambalpur divisions.
Although Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw recently told Parliament that forming a new zone is a long drawn process, the pace appears to have accelerated following Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s visit to New Delhi and his meeting with the Minister.
Despite the administrative split, SCR will continue to cover 3,584 km, slightly more than SCoR, which will have 3,436 km of route length. Meanwhile, various departments heads are engaged in intense discussions on the division of assets and personnel. The latest move involves asking Group B officers to submit their choice of postings by March 2.
