South Central Railway commissions 16.7 km Chirala-Bapatla third line

The South Central Railway on Friday completed and commissioned a 16.7 km section of electrified third line between Chirala and Bapatla, supplementing the 288 km-long tripling and electrification project between Vijayawada and Gudur.

With the new infrastructural section, 189 km of railway line stands electrified with a third line between Vijayawada and Gudur.

The Vijayawada-Gudur third line project was sanctioned in 2015-'16 for a distance of 288 km at an approximate cost of Rs 3,246 crore, said a press release.

Of the 288 km stretch, 45 km section between Chirala-Karavadi and 127 km between Gudur and Singarayakonda have been completed and the new addition of 16.7 km stretch between Chirala and Bapatala has taken it to 189 km.

The Vijayawada-Gudur railway line in the state is located on the grand trunk route, which plays a crucial role in linking the Northern and Eastern parts of the country to South India.

As this route has become highly congested due to a steady rise in passenger and freight trains, the Railways sanctioned Vijayawada-Gudur tripling and electrification project.

"The Vijayawada-Gudur section by virtue of its location is very crucial for train operations between Northern, Eastern and Southern parts of the country and hence the works in all the stretches are being carried out simultaneously," said SCR Zone general manager Arun Kumar Jain.

He noted that the completion of this project will ease congestion and improve efficiency of train operations.