SCR’s three-way split expected soon with SCoR rollout

The hiving of South Central Railway (SCR), reducing it to three divisions from the current six with the creation of the South Coast Railway (SCoR) Zone — headquartered at Visakhapatnam (AP) — may finally take shape in the next couple of months. A formal notification announcing the new zone is likely to be issued by April 1, according to top railway sources.

With the restructuring, SCR will be left with Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Nanded divisions. The new SCoR Zone will comprise Vijayawada, Guntur, Guntakal and Visakhapatnam (a truncated Waltair division). Another portion of the erstwhile Waltair division will be merged with the East Coast Railway (ECoR), forming the new Rayagada division alongside the existing Khurda Road and Sambalpur divisions.

Although Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw recently told Parliament that forming a new zone is a long drawn process, the pace appears to have accelerated following Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s visit to New Delhi and his meeting with the Minister.

Despite the administrative split, SCR will continue to cover 3,584 km, slightly more than SCoR, which will have 3,436 km of route length. Meanwhile, various departments heads are engaged in intense discussions on the division of assets and personnel. The latest move involves asking Group B officers to submit their choice of postings by March 2.

The SCR headquarters in Secunderabad will see its sanctioned officers’ strength reduced from 234 to 152, with about 80 posts being transferred to SCoR. The new zone has been sanctioned 128 posts, including around 50 to be reallocated from ECoR. Employees receiving transfer orders have been given 20 days to report to their new postings.

For non-gazetted staff, SCR’s strength will come down from 2,900 to 1,940, with nearly 1,000 employees shifting to SCoR. The new zone will also receive more than 125 posts from ECoR. All field units in the three SCR divisions moving to SCoR will come under the new zone, with additional teams to be formed once personnel from SCR and ECoR are absorbed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stones for both the SCoR headquarters in Visakhapatnam and the Rayagada divisional office earlier this year. While construction of the new headquarters and other office buildings is under way, officers and staff will function out of flats, guest houses and hotels. The zone’s headquarters will temporarily operate from a Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority (VMRDA) building until the permanent HQ is ready next year, railway sources added.