Overview
- Indian Railways has formally created the South Coast Railway, which will begin operations on June 1, 2026, with its headquarters in Visakhapatnam.
- The zone will consist of four divisions — Guntakal, Guntur, Vijayawada and a reorganised Visakhapatnam — fulfilling a long-standing demand after Andhra Pradesh’s 2014 bifurcation.
- The Waltair division of East Coast Railway has been trimmed and renamed Visakhapatnam, with the Palasa–Ichchapuram stretch moved into it and the Raichur–Wadi section reassigned to Secunderabad.
- Railways issued an official clarification that Odisha loses no territory, noting the seven Palasa–Ichchapuram stations lie in Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam district and that 696 km of routes remain under East Coast Railway’s new Rayagada division.
- Andhra Pradesh leaders, including Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, welcomed the move, while parties in Odisha protested the section transfers; a temporary SCoR office is functioning at the VMRDA site after a 2025 foundation stone for the permanent HQ.