Vijayawada railway division (formerly: Bezawada railway division) is one of the three railway divisions under

South Coast South Coast is a name often given to coastal areas to the south of a geographical region or major metropolitan area. Geographical Australia *South Coast (New South Wales), the coast of New South Wales, Australia, south of Sydney * South Coast (Q ...

Railways of the

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tota ...

. The headquarters of the division are located at

Vijayawada Vijayawada, formerly known as Bezawada, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and is a part of the state's Capital Region. It is the administrative headquarters of the NTR district. Its metropolitan region comprises NT ...

History

It was formed as one of the eight divisions in Southern Railway on 16 May 1956. After the formation of

South Central Railway zone The South Central Railway (abbreviated SCR) is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways. The jurisdiction of the zone is spread over the states of Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh. It has three divisions under its administrati ...

, the division was integrated into it on 2 October 1966. On 27 February 2019, This division was announced to be integrated with

South Coast Railway zone South Coast Railway Zone (SCoR) has been announced as the newest railway zone of the Indian Railways and is headquartered at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The formal notification for operationalization of this Zone is yet to be issued. Jur ...

with

Visakhapatnam , image_alt = , image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura submarine museum ...

as its headquarters.

Administration and jurisdiction

Vijayawada railway division jurisdiction signboard

The division is located completely in the state of Andhra Pradesh. It has a

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

route of and a running track of . It has a total electrified route of and a total track of . The present Divisional Railway Manager is P.Srinivass.

Sections and branch lines

The Gudur–Duvvada (Vijayawada–Gudur(tripling under progress) and Vijayawada-Duvvada), Vijayawada–Kondapalli, Samalkot–Kakinada Port, Vijayawada-Bhimavaram-Nidadavolu, Bhimavaram–Narasapuram and Gudivada-Machilipatnam are electrified and

double-track railway A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most lin ...

lines.

Kondapalli railway station Kondapalli railway station (station code - KI) is an Indian Railways station in Kondapalli, Vijayawada of Andhra Pradesh. It lies on Kazipet - Vijayawada section of New Delhi - Chennai main line. It is administered under Vijayawada railway di ...

is the divisional interchange station. The lines and sections under the jurisdiction of the Vijayawada division are listed below: ''Under construction'': *- railway line * Tripling of Double Electric Line from Kondapalle - Gudur ''Source'': *Vijayawada Division System map *Jurisdiction Note: *excl.– Station excluded / not under the divisional jurisdiction *km– Kilometer measure of distance between two lines * Vijayawada–Gudivada section (42.69 km) is covered in Vijayawada–Nidadavolu loop line.

Duvvada Duvvada is a suburban area of Visakhapatnam city, under the Revenue Mandal of Gajuwaka in Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation. A sub-post Office located at Duvvada with pincode 530046 and 530049 Etymology The name Duvvada was earlier Dvi ...

– Gudur section covers, both Duvvada–Vijayawada section and

Vijayawada–Gudur section The Vijayawada–Gudur section is a railway line connecting in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and . The main line is part of the Howrah–Chennai and New Delhi–Chennai main lines. Geography The Vijayawada–Gudur line runs along the C ...

Stations categories

The revised station categorization is based on footfalls at the station and it includes three groups namely, ''Non-Suburban (NS)'', ''Suburban (S)'' and ''Halt (H)''. It is further divided into grades ranging from 1-6 for Non-Suburban, 1-3 for Suburban and 1-3 for Halt stations. , there are a total of 161 stations in the division. Out of these, 108 are categorized as Non-suburban, 48 as Halt stations. Five stations namely, Nidiguntapalem, , Krishnapatnam,

Sarpavaram Sarpavaram is a commercial area of Kakinada City in East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area ...

, Komarapudi does not handle any coaching traffic and six halt stations namely, , Kaikoram, ,

Kesavaram Kesavaram is a village in West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh, India. It falls under Ganapavaram mandal. Kesavaram, meaning abode of Sri Krishna and Lord Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the Hindu ...

, Pedabrahmadevam, were closed. *''Source: Stations – Category-wise (NEW)''

Performance and earnings

The division operates around 274 passenger and 150 freight trains every day. There are a total of 222

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

, 34 diesel locos, 838 coaches, 29

MEMU On Indian Railways, the MEMUs are electric multiple unit (EMU) trains that serve short and medium-distance routes in India, as compared to normal EMU trains that connect urban and suburban areas. The acronym stands for Mainline Electric Multiple ...

, 37

DEMU A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

's. Vijayawada railway division generates much of its revenue from freight transport, which includes major commodities like

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dead ...

fertilisers A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

food grains A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

etc. Krishnapatnam and

Kakinada Port Kakinada Port is located at Kakinada Kakinada ( formerly called Kakinandiwada, Coringa, and Cocanada; ) is the sixth largest city of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and serves as the district headquarters of the Kakinada District. It l ...

s are the two main revenue earners for the division in freight transport. During 2013–14, it handled a divisional record of passengers. In the financial year 2018–19, the gross earnings of the division were a whooping . It includes, in terms of freight and by passenger transport. In the same fiscal year, it recorded as the only division with 9.3

metric tonnes The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton (United States c ...

of freight loading in the country. The below table shows the revenue and serving traffic of both passenger and freight from 2017–18 financial year.

Awards and achievements

*The office of the ''Vijayawada Divisional Regional Manager'' was awarded the certified by the ''National Energy Conservation Award (NECA)-2013'' based on the steps taken on energy efficiency. It also won 19 of 58 shields based on its performance in 2013. *During the ''64th Railway week'', the division was awarded ''General Manager's Efficiency'' and 11 other awards. *Vijayawada railway station was awarded ''Green Railway Stations Certificate'' by ''Indian Green Building Council (IGBC)'', which secured 71 points out of 100.