A separate railway zone for Andhra Pradesh – the South Coast Railway zone – came into existence on Monday, with officials formally launching their operations at its new zonal headquarters at Visakhapatnam.New railway zone for Andhra comes into operationUnion minister for civil aviation Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, along with government whip Bendalam Ashok, formally unveiled the welcome board of South Coast Railway zone at AS Peta railway station on the Andhra-Odisha border region of Ichchapuram mandal in the morning.Speaking to reporters after performing the traditional inaugural rituals and planting a sapling to mark the occasion, Rammohan Naidu recalled that he had fought for the Visakhapatnam Railway Zone issue several times in Parliament and recalled staging a protest at Ichchapuram Railway Station during the movement for the railway zone.Expressing happiness over the launch of the South Coast Railway zone while serving as a Union minister, Rammohan Naidu said the administrative operations of the new railway zone had officially commenced from Visakhapatnam from Monday.“With the new railway zone, we will now be able to resolve our own regional issues more effectively,” he said.He also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan on behalf of the people of Srikakulam district for their support in establishing the railway zone.Meanwhile, state tourism minister Kandula Durgesh also expressed happiness over the commencement of operations of the South Coast Railway zone and described it as the fulfilment of a decades-long dream of the people of Andhra Pradesh.Durgesh expressed confidence that the new railway zone would significantly boost the transportation and tourism sectors in the state.According to the gazette notification issued by the Union railway ministry on May 5, the South Coast Railway was carved out of the existing East Coast Railway zone headquartered at Bhubaneshwar and South Central Railway zone based out of Secunderabad in Hyderabad.The new South Coastal Railway zone comprises Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, and Guntakal divisions. The Waltair division of East Coast Railway was bifurcated in two parts. One part of it, named as Rayagada division, has been made part of the existing East Coast Railway zone and the remaining, renamed as Visakhapatnam division, has become part of the new South Coast Railway.The existing jurisdiction of Khurda Road division of East Coast Railway, comprising 53 km long Palasa-Ichchapuram line, will now be part of the Visakhapatnam division of South Coast Railway.The new railway zone will have a total length of 463 km railway line, including Ichchapuram- Palasa– Visakhapatnam – Duvvada (270 km); Vizianagaram- Kuneru (102 km); Naupada junction – Paralakhemundi (39 km); Bobbili junction – Salur (17 km); besides peripheral lines such as Simhachalam North - Duvvada bypass; Vadalapudi – Duvvada; and Visakhapatnam –Jaggayapalem (total 35 km).