Union Minister for Railways Piyush Goyal has announced the creation of a new railway zone for Andhra Pradesh- 'Southern Coast Railway Zone' to be headquartered in Visakhapatnam.
a. Tamil Nadu
b. Andhra Pradesh
c. Odisha
d. Kerela
About the Southern Coast Railway Zone:
- The Southern Coast Railway Zone would comprise of existing Guntakal, Guntur and Vijayawada divisions that currently fall under the South Central Railway.
- The South Central Railway will then consist of the Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Nanded divisions.
- Waltair division under the East Coast Railway Zone, covering the northern districts of Andhra Pradesh, parts of Chhattisgarh and Odisha will be split into two.
- One part will be incorporated in the new zone and merged with the neighbouring Vijayawada division, the remaining portion will be converted into a new division, headquartered at Rayagada, under the East Coast Railway (ECoR).
Interesting to know:
- Under item 8 of Schedule 13 (Infrastructure) of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014 Indian Railways was required to examine establishing a new railway zone in the successor state of Andhra Pradesh.
- Southern Coast Railway Zone is a step forward in this direction.
- The establishment is largely seen as a political move since the Railway Minister has given assent to the creation of the new zone despite the internal report of the Railway Board calling it "catastrophic".
- The report had said that creation of a new zone in Andhra Pradesh would be "like putting many nails in the coffin of the Indian Railways".
- The South Coast Railway Zone would be an 18th Railway zone in the country.
- Currently, India has 17 zones and a total of 73 divisions.
Question:
Q. Union Minister for Railways Piyush Goyal has announced the creation of a new railway zone 'Southern Coast Railway Zone' for which state?a. Tamil Nadu
b. Andhra Pradesh
c. Odisha
d. Kerela
