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The railway board has flooded the hopes of locals in the construction of the Kakinada-Pithapuram main railway line. It is deeply disappointed after the board has decided to cancel this long awaited project.
21.5KMs of Railway Line, 17 years of time.. done nothing but to kill the proposal?
The Railway Ministry in its report stated in 2000, during the project proposal that the line would be developed as an alternative route to Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam trains, especially on the coastal area of Kakinada port.
In 1999-2000, the railway line was approved by railways 21.5 km on Kakinada-Pithapuram route. It was then decided to jointly construct a railway line with the AP government. The AP Government came forward to make land for free on the proposal of the Railway Ministry for this project.
The railway department has stopped the Kakinada-Pithapuram railway line in the district by taking the report submitted by the Southern Railway GM in 2012 into consideration. The 2012 report is clear that the Kakinada-Pithapuram railway line is not possible.
2012 Report
The report said that there was no Economic Growth after the railway line was established. This is literally a Joke.. Seriously? No economic growth?! Dear SCR, Kakinada Railway line is one of the major source of Income in the Vijayawada region from 2011. Lets see some statistics here:
^In 2013 Kakinada Line shares 26% of total income in that year for SCR which is 2nd highest. Read TOI Article on it.
^Wikipedia Vijayawada railway division generates much of its revenue from freight transport, which includes major commodities like coal, fertilizers, food grains, cement etc. Krishnapatnam and Kakinada Ports are the two main revenue earners for the division in freight transport. For the financial year, 2014–15, the gross earnings of the division was a whooping ₹4,603.27 crore(US$720 million).
After the bifurcation of the state, Kakinada – Visakhapatnam is playing a key role in the economic growth of the state. Since 2011, Kakinada Port has developed rapidly & tripled the railway network for freight handling making Kakinada Railways one of the major contributors for SCR- Vijayawada Region.
What if it IS connected to the mainline, and more operations are increased? Would it be economically not feasible??
These are few stats to deny the Statement KAKINADA RAILWAY HAS NO ECONOMIC GROWTH.
And another issue raised in the Report is the Use of the existing Pitapuram – Samalkot line was minimal with all the trains diverted via Kakinada line which will take extra 22 – 30 Kms and increase in journey time from 45mins to 1 hour.
Funds allotted for the project to be canceled.
And the fresh news coming out today is, the Center/Railway board is canceling the funds for Kakinada Main Line. Making Kakinada completely ignored in terms of railway development.
Its pity after 2014, Kakinada hasn’t got any new trains but a bunch of temporary trains between Kakinada-Hyderabad – Tirupathi etc. Around 60 Crores have been sanctioned for Kakinada-Pitapuram during 2015-16 and 2016-17 budgets.
Dear local representatives at least try to fight for the funds from canceling and reallocate them for the development of more amenities at Kakinada Railway stations, Get permanent trains to Delhi, Kolkata, Kochi, etc.
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