Railways plans four lines on Ichchapuram-Tada stretch of Howrah-Chennai route
The Duvvada-Nidadavolu section alone has been sanctioned at Rs 9,889 crore and includes a new 4.3-km bridge across the Godavari.
The Railway Ministry is expanding the country's busiest trunk routes to four lines, among them the Howrah-Chennai corridor, which runs 962.50 km through Andhra Pradesh from Ichchapuram to Tada. It will allow more passenger trains and let goods trains run without repeated halts.
Of that, 897.68 km falls under the South Coast Railway zone at Visakhapatnam and 64.83 km under Southern Railway at Chennai. Four lines exist on 16.76 km and a third line has been laid on 337.36 km; the third and fourth are yet to come on 608.38 km.
Third-line work is under way on the 191.98 km between Ichchapuram and Vizianagaram, with a detailed project report awaited for the fourth. Vizianagaram-Kottavalasa has three lines and is getting a fourth. The third line is complete on the 292.72 km from Vijayawada to Gudur via Nellore.
The Railways has sanctioned Rs 9,889 crore for third and fourth lines on the 205.68 km between Duvvada and Nidadavolu, including three bypasses, one of them skirting Tuni and Annavaram stations.
That work includes a 4.3-km bridge across the Godavari, between the Dowleswaram barrage and the existing road-rail bridge. Reports are also being prepared for the Nidadavolu-Vijayawada stretch.
