{"id":44878,"date":"2025-02-10T10:23:32","date_gmt":"2025-02-10T04:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=44878"},"modified":"2025-05-06T15:18:32","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T09:48:32","slug":"south-coast-railway-zone-scor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/south-coast-railway-zone-scor\/","title":{"rendered":"South Coast Railway (SCoR) Zone: Divisions, Waltair Split &#038; Economic Impact"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in Today\u2019s Article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>South Coast Railway (SCoR) Zone Latest News<\/li>\n<li>Reason for Creating the South Coast Railway (SCoR) Zone<\/li>\n<li>Divisions Under the South Coast Railway (SCoR) Zone<\/li>\n<li>Significance of the Waltair Division<\/li>\n<li>South Coast Railway (SCoR) Zone FAQs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>South Coast Railway (SCoR) Zone Latest News<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Union Cabinet approved the creation of the\u00a0<strong>South Coast Railway (SCoR) Zone<\/strong>, the 18th railway zone of India, under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.<\/li>\n<li>PM Modi laid the foundation stone for its headquarters in Visakhapatnam in January. The new zone is formed by reorganizing parts of the East Coast Railway and South Central Railway.<\/li>\n<li>Additionally, the Waltair Railway Division was split, with one part renamed as the Visakhapatnam Railway Division under SCoR, while the other part will become a new division based in Rayagada, Odisha, under the East Coast Railway.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Reason for Creating the South Coast Railway (SCoR) Zone<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Mandate Under Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>As per Item 8 of Schedule 13 (Infrastructure) of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, Indian Railways was required to examine the feasibility of a new railway zone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Government Announcement and Strategic Importance<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>In February 2019, the Central government announced the creation of the South Coast Railway Zone.<\/li>\n<li>It was done to enhance operational efficiency and cater to increasing passenger and freight demands.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Economic and Logistic Benefits<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0According to a senior railway official, the new zone will:\n<ul>\n<li>Support industrial and agricultural growth,<\/li>\n<li>Improve logistics for major ports like Visakhapatnam and Krishnapatnam, and<\/li>\n<li>Boost tourism to Tirupati and other cultural sites in Andhra Pradesh.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Political Context<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Despite a long-standing demand for a separate railway zone after Andhra Pradesh\u2019s bifurcation, it was fulfilled only after political alignment between the state and the Centre.\n<ul>\n<li>The ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which came to power in 2024, is part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Divisions Under the South Coast Railway (SCoR) Zone<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Geographical Coverage<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The SCoR zone will primarily cover Andhra Pradesh, along with parts of Telangana and Tamil Nadu.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Key Railway Divisions<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Vijayawada Division (from South Central Railway)<\/li>\n<li>Guntur Division (from South Central Railway)<\/li>\n<li>Visakhapatnam Division (part of the former Waltair Division)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sections Under Visakhapatnam Division (SCoR)<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>This division will cover approximately\u00a0<strong>410 km<\/strong>, including sections:\n<ul>\n<li>Palasa\u2013Visakhapatnam\u2013Duvvada<\/li>\n<li>Kuneru\u2013Vizianagaram<\/li>\n<li>Naupada Jn.\u2013Paralakhemundi<\/li>\n<li>Bobbili Jn.\u2013Salur<\/li>\n<li>Simhachalam North\u2013Duvvada bypass<\/li>\n<li>Vadalapudi\u2013Duvvada<\/li>\n<li>Visakhapatnam Steel Plant\u2013Jaggayapalem<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Rayagada Division Under East Coast Railway<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0The remaining part of the Waltair Division (around\u00a0<strong>680 km<\/strong>) will be reorganized as a \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 fpnew division with headquarters at\u00a0<strong>Rayagada<\/strong>, covering sections:\n<ul>\n<li>Kottavalasa\u2013Bacheli<\/li>\n<li>Kuneru\u2013Theruvali Jn.<\/li>\n<li>Singapur Rd.\u2013Koraput Jn.<\/li>\n<li>Paralakhemundi\u2013Gunpur<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Significance of the Waltair Division<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Major Revenue Generator<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Waltair Division is a key revenue source for Indian Railways due to its strong freight traffic, primarily linked to the mining and steel industries in Odisha and Chhattisgarh.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Freight Performance of East Coast Railway (ECoR)<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>In\u00a0<strong>FY 2023-24<\/strong>, ECoR set a record by loading\u00a0<strong>250 million tonnes<\/strong>\u00a0of freight, surpassing the previous year\u2019s record.<\/li>\n<li>Division-wise Contribution<strong>:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Khurda Road Division<\/strong>: 156.17 million tonnes<\/li>\n<li><strong>Waltair Division<\/strong>: 74.66 million tonnes<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sambalpur Division<\/strong>: 19.20 million tonnes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>ECoR became the\u00a0<strong>first railway zone<\/strong>\u00a0to exceed\u00a0<strong>200 million tonnes of freight loading<\/strong>\u00a0for five consecutive years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Political Opposition in Odisha<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Leaders from Odisha have opposed the reorganization, arguing that Odisha will suffer economic losses.<\/li>\n<li>This is because a major revenue-generating part of ECoR, headquartered in\u00a0<strong>Bhubaneswar<\/strong>, is being transferred to the South Coast Railway.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>South Coast Railway (SCoR) Zone FAQs<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Q1.<\/strong>\u00a0How many zones are there in Southern Railway?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans.<\/strong>\u00a0Southern Railway is headquartered in Chennai and is divided into six divisions namely Chennai, Tiruchirappalli, Madurai, Palakkad, Salem and Thiruvananthapuram.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q2.<\/strong>\u00a0How many divisions are there in South Coast Railway (SCoR) Zone?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans.<\/strong>\u00a0The South Coast Railway (SCoR) Zone, headquartered in Visakhapatnam, will now consist of four divisions: Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, and Guntakal..<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q3.\u00a0<\/strong>What is the full form of SCoR in railway?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans.<\/strong>\u00a0SCoR stands for South Coast Railway, which is a railway zone in India. It was the 18th railway zone to be announced in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q4.<\/strong>\u00a0What is the new name of Waltair?<\/p>\n<p><strong>An<\/strong>s. The Division would be renamed as Visakhapatnam Division as the name Waltair is a colonial legacy that needs to be changed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q5<\/strong>. What is the meaning of Waltair Division?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ans.<\/strong>\u00a0Waltair railway division refers to the name of a former railway division under the jurisdiction of East Coast Railway zone of the Indian Railways.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/cabinet-railways-south-coast-new-zone-andhra-9826168\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/industry\/transportation\/railways\/cabinet-grants-post-facto-approval-to-south-coast-railway-zone\/articleshow\/118026866.cms?from=mdr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ET<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Explore the South Coast Railway (SCoR) Zone, its divisions, the Waltair split, revenue impact, and political reactions to the reorganization.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":44879,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-44878","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}