Andhra Pradesh   

Work on Vizianagaram-Kothavalasa line to begin in August

VISKHAPATNAM: The Waltair division of the East Coast Railway (ECoR) is all set to begin the work for the laying of the 34.7 km. third line between Kothavalasa and Vizianagaram railway stations at a cost of Rs.240 crores in August.

Tenders for various works in the section, like taking up earth work, laying of track, electrical work, embankment, construction of bridges, signalling and communication have already been called for and they will be decided in the next few weeks.

The railway board has allotted Rs.56 crores for the project in the 2008-09 railway budget and if everything goes as per schedule, the work might be completed in 24 to 30 months, said a senior official.

The track will be laid parallel to the existing double line and land would not be a problem, barring at a few places, as enough railway lands are available. There would be a number of small bridges and couple of big bridges including the one to be constructed across Bhimasinghi river in Vizianagaram district. The Bhimasinghi bridge would be of around 200 metres long with six spans.

The line will be laid according to the railway’s heavy mineral loading (HML) standards using heavy duty rail of 60 kg. per metre. The track, which would come under “group B” category, could withstand trains with the maximum speed of 165 km. per hour. Of course, the trains are allowed to run only up to a maximum of 110 km. per hour in this region. The third line would be very useful to speed up trains movement, including passenger trains, between Visakhapatnam and Howrah. The freight traffic has significantly increased in this region in the last few years due to movement of coal, containers, iron ore, steel, bauxite, alumina etc. to various steel plants, thermal stations, aluminium factory and ports in the area and to the Southern parts of the country.

Barring Simhachalam North and Kothavalasa section (19 km.) only Kothavalasa-Vizianagaram section will have three lines in the entire Andhra Pradesh and Orissa and up to Kharagpur in West Bengal.

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