Visakhapatnam is a major cosmopolitan city of the state of Andhra Pradesh in south India. People here from all over India reside here. Visakhapatnam has been developed as a premier economic development centre of India with many sectors flourishing here such as fishing, IT, Pharmaceuticals, Sea trade, shipping, etc. The harbour, roads and railway connectivity of this city are the major reasons for its rapid growth as an economic hub. Another revenue generating factor of this city is tourism and Railways play an important role in that.
Visakhapatnam has two major stations in the city named as Visakhapatnam Railway Station and Duvvada Railway Station;
- Visakhapatnam Railway Station –
Visakhapatnam Railway Station or VSKP is the primary railway station situated at Gannapuram in Visakhapatnam. In the past, it was named as Walt air railway station, but in the year 1987, it was changed to Visakhapatnam Railway Station by the city mayor Mr. D. V. Subbarao. It has an elevation of 5.9 metres above the sea level and is controlled by Walt air Railway division of East Coast Railway Zone of Indian Railways. It lies on the main Chennai-Howrah line and bypasses the Central station. Three major railway lines that pass through this station are Visakhapatnam-Khurda road Section, Kirandul-Visakhapatnam line and Vijaywada-Visakhapatnam section.
The Visakhapatnam railway station is a terminal station, hence, it is necessary for any train coming to this station to go backwards in order to proceed further. Due to this, there is a lot of time wasted in the process of entry and exit of the trains to the station. Although there are many trains that are limited to the Duvvuda station, yet there are a large number of trains arriving at this station. An average time 20 minutes is taken by each train to reverse the direction of the locomotive and depart from the station.
Sometimes, when many trains have to arrive at the same platform, the platform is not available. In that case, the trains that are running late from their schedule are stopped at Duvvada. An efficient Route Relay Interlocking system helps in keeping trains running without conflicting the movements.
In the year 1974, the first railways service from Visakhapatnam to Hyderabad was introduced. The major trains that use this station are Duronto express, Godavari Express, Visakhapatnam-Kollam express, Ratnachal express and many more.
The station has eight platforms and 10 broad gauge tracks. All the platforms are connected with foot over bridges. Platform no 4 and 5 have been equipped with escalators recently on the occasion of Ugadi day.
Due to Visakhapatnam station being very busy, the most prevalent problem faced by passengers is non-availability of tickets and berths. Most of the trains get reserved for the passengers of remote places. Due to this reason, many trains originating from Bhubaneswar have been extended to Visakhapatnam.
- Duvvada Railway Station –
Duvvada Railway station or DVD is another major station in Visakhapatnam district and was built as a suburban stoppage on the main line as the main line crossing the Visakhapatnam bypasses the central station. Development of Duvvada station has helped a lot in improving the railway services in that area. The Duvvada station is controlled by Walt air Division of Indian railway. When the Visakhapatnam steel plant was established, a large number of people started commutation from neighbouring cities, and this led to an increased pressure on the Visakhapatnam Railway station. In order to reduce the stress on the Visakhapatnam station, Duvvada station was developed to serve the population of southern outskirts of the district. It handles more than one lakh passengers daily.
It has a total of four platforms with broad gauge tracks. It has a large parking space for around 500 vehicles at a time. Other facilities that are available at the station are refreshment stalls, waiting hall and computerised ticket windows.
These are the two railway stations serving the population of Visakhapatnam and contributing to the rapid growth and development of this city.