Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that they are talking to AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu seeking an alternate site for Visakha railway zone. He said that the land allocated by the previous state government was a water-logged area and they are discussing allotting another land.
He said that Union Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu often talks to them about this. He said that the new proposed railway projects will benefit the Telugu states a lot. With the new project, 85.5 km railway line will be constructed in AP. He said that the Howrah- Chennai railway corridor connects many states and it has been decided to increase the capacity of this corridor.
He said that construction of the 3rd line up to Vizianagaram has been approved and expected to build a corridor of 4 lines in total. A new corridor will be established to connect Asansol (Bengal)-Warangal. Junagadh- Navarangpur, Malkangiri- Pandurangapuram via Bhadrachalam railway lines, which will be a part of this corridor.
These two projects will be set up with Rs.7,383 crores.
The Railway Minister said that these corridors will be very useful for supplying coal to power projects in southern states. He said that this will contribute to the export of Singareni coal. He said that the distance will be reduced by 500 to 700 kilometers through this corridor.
In this project, a railway bridge will be constructed over the Godavari at Bhadrachalam. He said that this corridor will become crucial for the transportation of goods in the coastal area when cyclones occur.
Ashwani Vaishnava said that the two Telugu states will benefit a lot through this project, it will be an additional rail corridor for North- Eastern India, it will help for better connectivity to aluminum and iron ore industries.
He said that this new line will also provide a wider market for agricultural products in Andhra and Telangana and it will provide an additional rail line to the existing Vijayawada-Visakhapatnam- Bhubaneswar-Kolkata coastal region and the newly constructed Warangal-Bhadrachalam-Malkangiri-Jaipur-Titlagarh.