Railway Board ‘circular’ rekindles hope of retaining Waltair Division in Visakhapatnam
The Hindu
Railway Board ‘circular’ rekindles hope of retaining Waltair Division in Visakhapatnam. As per the circular that has gone viral on social media, one part of the division, comprising several sections spread over 410 km, will be retained under the new SCoR zone and renamed as ‘Visakhapatnam Division’.
The truncated portion of the 131-year-old Waltair Division will be renamed as ‘Visakhapatnam Division’ and its headquarters retained in Visakhapatnam as per the aspirations of the people of North Andhra and leaders of various political parties.
This will prevent the glorious division from slipping into the annals of history.
A circular (dated January 10, 2025), purportedly issued by the Railway Board, which went viral on the social media on Wednesday, rekindled the hopes of the people of the region that the historic division would be retained.
In February 2019, ahead of the general elections, the then Railway Minister, Piyush Goyal, had announced the establishment of the South Coast Railway (SCoR) with its headquarters in Visakhapatnam.
It was then decided to bifurcate the Waltair Division and merge one part with the existing Vijayawada Division. The remaining part was sought to be merged with the division to be formed at Rayagada in Odisha.
The Waltair Division is spread over parts of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh. The Odisha and Chhattisgarh portions were to be merged with the Rayagada Division of ECoR.
At the time of formation of the East Coast Railway (ECoR) in 2003, it was truncated to pave the way for formation of the Sambalpur Division, leaving Waltair Division with 1,106 km.
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