Indian Railways has approved a Rs 299-crore remodelling of the Visakhapatnam Coaching Yard, the Ministry of Railways said.
The project, sanctioned for the South Coast Railway zone, will add six new platforms, six additional lines and widen the six platforms that currently exist at the station, according to the statement.
Why Visakhapatnam railway station is being remodelled
Visakhapatnam railway station handles close to 80,000 passengers a day, with an average of 113 trains passing through, the statement said. Under the present yard layout, trains terminating at the station or passing through it have had to cross other lines at surface level, a bottleneck that has caused delays at approach signals, cut down on platform availability and limited how many trains the yard can handle at once, as per the ministry.
Railway officials said the remodelling is intended to cut down on these surface crossings, reduce the time trains spend waiting outside the station, and free up platforms more quickly for the next train in line.
Visakhapatnam station upgrade: New platforms, lifts and station entrance
For commuters, the most visible changes will come in the form of wider platforms and new accessibility features. The existing six platforms will be widened, and the six new ones will come equipped with ramps, lifts and escalators, according to the ministry.
The station will also get a new entrance on its eastern side, which railway officials said is meant to ease crowding at the current entry points and shorten the distance for passengers arriving from that part of the city. The Passenger Reservation System counter is being relocated as part of this change.
Other passenger-facing additions include surface parking near the station and a redesigned circulating area, which is the space outside a station where vehicles drop off and pick up passengers. Officials said it is intended to reduce the chaos commuters often face while entering or exiting the premises.
Rail yard modernisation: Electronic Interlocking and track remodelling
On the operational side, the project involves dismantling existing loop lines and reorganising point zones, the sections of track where trains switch from one line to another, to allow trains to move through the yard with fewer conflicts.
The yard will also get Electronic Interlocking, a signalling system that allows train movements to be controlled and coordinated centrally, replacing more manual methods of route-setting. Railway officials said this is expected to improve safety and allow more trains to be handled within the same time window.
How the Rs 299 crore project will improve train operations
Taken together, officials said the upgrades are meant to help the station keep pace with rising passenger numbers without a corresponding rise in delays. Better platform availability and reduced train detention, the statement said, should translate into improved punctuality for services running in and out of Visakhapatnam. The Ministry of Railways has not specified a completion timeline for the project in its statement.