South Central Railway (SCR) on Friday announced that a 16.7-km third line between Chirala and Bapatla stations, which is part of the Vijayawada-Gudur tripling and electrification project, has been completed and commissioned for commercial services.
With this, 189 km of different stretches between Vijayawada–Gudur stands electrified and with a third line. The new stretch will help decongest the saturated route and ease train operations under Prakasam and Bapatla districts of Andhra Pradesh.
The Vijayawada–Gudur section is on the grand trunk route connecting the northern and eastern parts of the country with the southern States. This route has become highly congested with the steady increase in both passenger and freight trains.
A third line for the section was sanctioned in 2015-16 for a distance of 288 km at an approximate cost of ₹3,246 crore. The work is being executed by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), and work has been taken up simultaneously in all the stretches.
The 45-km Chirala-Karavadi section, 127-km Gudur-Singarayakonda and now the 16.7-km section between Chirala–Bapatla have been completed, said General Manager Arun Kumar Jain in an official release.
