Context:

• The Union Minister for Railways has announced the creation of new railway zone for Andra Pradesh, Southern Coast Railway Zone to be headquartered in Visakhapatnam.
• Under item 8 of Schedule 13 (Infrastructure) of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014 Indian Railways was required to examine establishing a new railway zone in the successor state of Andhra Pradesh. Southern Coast Railway Zone is a step forward in this direction. The South Coast Railway zone would be an 18th Railway zone in the country. Currently, India has 17 zones and a total of 73 divisions.

Southern Coast Railway Zone:

• The Southern Coast Railway zone would comprise of existing Guntakal, Guntur and Vijayawada divisions that currently fall under the South-Central Railway and the South-Central Railway will then consist of the Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Nanded divisions.
• Waltair division under the East Coast Railway Zone, covering the northern districts of Andhra Pradesh, parts of Chhattisgarh and Odisha will be split into two.
• One part will be incorporated in the new zone and merged with the neighbouring Vijayawada division, the remaining portion will be converted into a new division, headquartered at Rayagada, under the East Coast Railway (ECoR).