Guntur railway division

Chelama Tunnel, Guntur Division

The remains of the old Dorabavi Viaduct, Bogada Guntur Division

The Krishna Canal-Nandyal (KCC-NDL) stretch was a part of the important East-West coast link that connected Margao in Goa to Masulipatnam in the erstwhile Madras Province of British India. It was originally built to Metre Gauge by the Southern Mahratta Railway (later the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway-MSMR) during 1889–90.[6] The track passed through the Nallamala Hills and as a result quite a few major engineering works were undertaken in the course of the railroad construction, the most impressive of them being the massive Dorabavi Viaduct[7] and the Bogada Tunnel, both of them about 30 km from Nandyal. This section was converted to Broad Gauge during 1993–95. The gauge conversion was a difficult task owing to the difficult terrain. The old alignment between Gazulapalli and Diguvametta was abandoned and a new Bogada tunnel, about 1.6 km in length and a new Dorabavi Viaduct located at a much lower altitude were constructed at a huge expense. The railway passes through the historic Cumbum Tank, starting from Cumbum railway station and spread over an area of 7 km. It is one of the most picturesque valleys in Guntur-Nandyal section of South Central Railway.[8]

The Guntur-Macherla section was opened in 1930, by the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway to serve the backward inner Telangana region. It too was originally metre gauge and was converted to 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad gauge in 1992–93.[9] This section was used for the transport of limestone, quartz &cement, primarily from Piduguralla, popularly known as the Lime City.[10] The section from Guntur to the coastal town of Repalle was built to the broad gauge by the Madras and Southern Railway in 1916. This line connected to the East Coast main line at Tenali. The section from Tenali to Repalle was owned by Guntur District Board until 1964. The foundation stone for the 152 km long Bibinagar-Nadikudi rail project that opened an alternative route to Secunderabad from Vijayawada and connected the interior of Telangana to Hyderabad was laid by the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi on 7 April 1974. The project was finally finished in 1989 and the line commissioned a year later.[11]

Two major bridges to span the Krishna River and Musi are located in this section. It is used by many south/east bound trains in a bid to decongest the heavily used Warangal-Vijayawada line. New rail lines are added in the region such as Nadikudi–Srikalahasti section, part of which comes under the division. This will be an alternate route to Chennai/Tirupati for Guntur City.[12][13]

The jurisdiction of the division covers the districts of Guntur, Kurnool, Prakasam in Andhra Pradesh and Yadadri Bhuvanagiri, Nalgonda in Telangana.[3] It has a total route length of 629.516 km (391.163 mi) and running track of 660.992 km (410.721 mi).[14] In Andhra Pradesh, it has a total route length of 484.78 km (301.23 mi) and in Telangana it is 144.94 km (90.06 mi).[15]

Sections and branch lines

Jurisdictional route map of Guntur Railway Division

Railway track between Nandyal and Giddalur as viewed from Nallamala Ghat Road

The sections and branch lines route map breakup is as follows:

Section	Distance (in km)	Double/Single line	Traction
Guntur–Krishna Canal (excluding Krishna Canal)	27.12	Double	Electric
Guntur–Tenali (excluding Tenali)	24.27	Double	Electric
Pagidipalli–Nallapadu section (excluding Pagidipalli)	243.92	Single	Electric
Nallapadu–Nandyal section	251.98	Single	Electric
Tenali–Repalle (excluding Tenali)	32.10	Single	Electric
Nadikudi–Macherla	35.01	Single	Electric
Vishnupuram – Janpahad	10.64	Single	Electric
Other lines
Guntur – Nallapadu	5.00	Double	Electric
Guntur Byepass Line	1.94	Single	Electric
Total	629.75	30.36 km of double line	312.55 km of electrified track

Source: SCR Railway Map 2018[16]

Under construction:

• Nadikudi-Srikalahasti railway line

Categorization of stations

Guntur Junction railway station in 2007

The list includes the stations under the jurisdiction of Guntur railway division and classified based on their respective category.

Category	No. of stations	Names of stations
A1 Category	0	—
A Category	1	Guntur Junction
B Category	2	Nandyal Junction and Nalgonda
C Category	0	—
D Category	13	Cumbum, Donakonda, Giddalur, Macherla, Markapur Road, Mangalagiri, Mirylaguda, Nadikudi, Narasaraopet, Piduguralla, Repalle, Sattenapalle, Vinukonda
E Category	43	New Guntur railway station
F Category	13	Angalakuduru, Gudimetta, Gudipudi, GURZ (station code), Krishnamsettypalle, Lingamguntla, Mamdapur, Mandapadu, Pedakakani Halt, Penumarru, Rentachintala, Vellalcheruvu Halt, Zampini
Non-operational	4	Bommaipalle, JNPD (station code), Kondrapole Halt, Nandipalli
Total	75	—

Source:[3]

The division operates around 200 express, passenger and freight trains every day.[17] The primary commodity transported by the division is cement, clinker, food grains, besides coal and fertilizer. Other commodities include cotton, chillies, limestone, paddy, tobacco and timber waste.[17][18][19] In 2003, the freight earnings were ₹93 crore (US$12 million).[20] After a decade, it stands at ₹452 crore (US$57 million) in 2013–14. In 2008-09, the gross revenue was ₹237 crore (US$30 million), a decline in figures compared to previous fiscal of ₹272 crore (US$34 million), due to recession.[21] In the fiscal year 2018–19, it registered a growth of 69% freight earnings alone.[22]

• Gross includes passenger, freight, sundry and other coaching revenues

• Divisions of Indian Railways
• Vijayawada railway division

16°18′04″N 80°26′36″E

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