BITRAGUNTA

-Annual Inspection conducted between Gudur – o­ngole – Tenali section

Shri Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, South Central Railway undertook Annual Inspection of Gudur – o­ngole – Tenali section of Vijayawada Division today i.e., 16th February, 2021. He was accompanied by Shri P. Srinivas, Divisional Railway Manager, Vijayawada Division, Principal Head of the Departments and other senior officials throughout the inspection.

The General Manager commenced the inspection at Gudur Railway station and proceeded further to Manubolu – Kommarapudi section where he inspected the Road Under Bridge (RUB), Level Crossing Gate and Relay Room. He inspected Level crossing gate between Kommarapudi – Venkatachalam section, where he reviewed the safety aspects and also interacted with the Gateman. The General Manager inspected Venkatachalam Railway station and discussed o­n various station developmental plans with the officials, He carried out a speed test of 120 Kmph between Venkatachalam – Nellore section. The General Manager inspected minor bridges between Kommarapudi – Venkatachalam and Alluru – Bitragunta sections.

Shri Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, SCR inspected Bitragunta Railway station and discussed o­n station developmental plans with the officials. He inaugurated a Crew Booking Lobby, New Freight Examination facility and flagged off a goods train. He inspected the new Carriage & Workshop office at Bitragunta station. He inspected the facilities available at Bitragunta running room and discussed o­n further improvements with the officials. The General Manager also planted saplings towards green environment at Bitragunta. He conducted a speed test between Kavali – Singarayakonda section.

The General Manager inspected the Road Under Bridge (RUB) and a major bridge between Ulavapadu – Singarayakonda – Tanguturu section. The General Manager inspected a bridge over the Romperu river between Uppugunduru – Chinnaganjam section and interacted with the track maintainers. He inspected the level crossing gate between Tsunduru – Tenali section. The General Manager inspected Tenali Railway station, the Health Unit and reviewed the facilities available. The General Manager also visited the staff quarters and Railway colony at Tenali where he interacted with the residents o­n the facilities provided. During the inspection, the General Manager inspected and reviewed overall track maintenance o­n the entire stretch of Gudur – Tenali section and also conducted speed tests o­n the section.

To ease freight operations & to accommodate Longer Haul Goods trains

The First Longer Loop Line of South Central Railway has been commissioned at Bikkavolu Railway Station of Vijayawada Division located o­n the busy Vijayawada – Visakhapatnam (Waltair) section.

In Railways, loop lines are constructed in station area to accommodate more number of trains and to ease out the train operations. Normally, these loop lines are constructed with a length of 750 meters which can accommodate a full-length goods train with multiple engines. With the increasing need to handle more number of trains with higher average speeds, Indian Railways has been encouraging the construction of Longer Loop lines of around 1500 meters (which is double than the existing loop line lengths).

Over SCR, the Ministry of Railways has initially sanctioned construction of Longer Loops at six stations of Vijayawada Division viz., Bikkavolu, Nawabpalem & Elamanchili in Vijayawada – Visakhapatnam section and Nidubrolu, Ammanabrolu & Bitragunta in Vijayawada – Chennai section.

Accordingly, the Longer Loop line works at Bikkavolu station has been taken up and completed well before the target date and this longer loop line stands as first o­ne commissioned across the Zone. Further, the works for commissioning of longer loop lines at Nidubrolu, Ammanabrolu and Bitragunta stations are in progress simultaneously along with 3rd Line works being carried out between Vijayawada – Gudur, while the longer loops at Nawabpalem and Elamanchili are nearing completion and are targeted for commissioning in 2021.

The execution of works for construction of Longer Loop at Bikkavolu has been taken up with meticulous planning without any disruption to regular train services. The total cost of this project is around Rs 85 crores. The loop line is having two isolations to strengthen the safety and also facilitates stabling two trains at a time.

The benefits of Longer loop are :-

v Will accommodate Long haul trains like Jai Kisan specials where 2 freight trains are combined and run for quick mobility

v Provision for crossing of trains to enable faster movement of trains without too much detention of freight trains

v Improves punctuality of passenger trains by avoiding main line regulation of Goods trains

v Improves overall train operations.

v Enables in handling more number of trains.

Shri Gajanan Mallya, General Manger, SCR complimented the officials of Vijayawada Division o­n completion of First longer loop line over the Zone. He instructed the officials to complete the remaining 5 longer loop lines o­n fast pace for overall improvement in operation of freight trains in busy trunk route section.