Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw addressing the media in New Delhi on February 1, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has reiterated that the construction of the South Coast Railway (SCoR) zone headquarters in Visakhapatnam will begin as soon as the State government hands over the 53 acres of land at Mudasarlova.
Mr. Ashwini Vaishnaw was interacting with the media persons from the city through a videoconference from New Delhi, arranged at the Divisional Railway Manager’s office here on February 1 after the interim budget was presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Replying to a query, Mr. Ashwini Vaishnaw said, “We are working with the State government for taking possession of the land.”
Referring to the allocation for the Railways, he said the focus of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on development of every region in the country. While the average budgetary allocation for the Railways between 2009 and 2014 for combined Andhra Pradesh was ₹886 crore, the average allocation for A.P. alone increased by about 10 times this financial year (2024-25) to ₹9,138 crore.
He said 97% of the railway tracks in A.P. had already been electrified. A total of 72 railway stations had been identified for development as Amrit Bharat stations, he said.
