Vishakhapatnam (Vizag) projects and infrastructure

[ramkan]

Do they have a website with more details & pricing?

[Babji]

Originally Posted by ramkan

Do they have a website with more details & pricing?

http://www.prajayengineers.com/
this is all I know - pl search further.

[Babji]

The Economic Times Online

Govt approves RINL's expansion plan
PTI[ THURSDAY, JUNE 08, 2006 09:45:15 PM]

NEW DELHI: Visakhapatnam-based Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) will invest Rs 869 crore to more than double its liquid steel production capacity to 6.3 million tonne per annum.

The government has cleared the expansion proposal of RINL, which would be implemented in two stages, an official statement said.

In the first stage, the plant would produce 6.3 million tonne of liquid steel per annum by October, 2008, while the second stage would facilitate the commissioning of special bar mill and light structural mill by October, 2009, the release added.

[pding]

more employment on the way for the ppl of this region.

[cbeboy]

Mutliplex to come up in city centre soon

VISAKHAPATNAM: Here is good news for those who have lost heart after the proposal to build IMAX theatres at the old Central Jail Complex was shelved following widespread protests from people's organisations.

The plan was opposed as it would deprive the citizens of lung space in the burgeoning metropolis. While everyone hailed the decision to retain the greenery on old jail site, some were disheartened that the city had lost a prestigious project due to environmental concerns.

Multiplex, mega mall

The city will soon have a multiplex and mega shopping mall at the old super bazaar site, opposite Turner's Choultry. The work on the Rs.15-crore project, which commenced last October is going on at a brisk pace.

No one can dispute the construction of multiplex as it is being built after demolition of an old concrete structure with hardly any trees around it. The site, which is located at a stone's throw from the city's commercial hub Jagadamba junction, will have a new landmark on completion of the multiplex.

[Babji]

ECR to continue augment coaches
Newindpress.com UNI

VISAKHAPATNAM: The East coast Railway (ECR) will continue to augment coaches in important trains to clear the extra rush of passengers.

During April and may, it augmented trains with 931 additional coaches and carried about 77,000 more passengers during the two months.

...the ECR earned Rs 1.89 crore more due to augmentation.

... the ECR has decided to augment the Jagannath Express permanently with an AC two-tier and an AC three-tier coach beginning July two.

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ECR is in dire need of some planners with strong balls of steel!.

[pding]

ECR is in dire need of some planners with strong balls of steel!.



why do you say that? i mean what troubles are they facing??? but yes, traffic in this zone is increasing and proper steps should be taken now before the system becomes too inefficient to handle for the needs of passengers.

[Babji]

Originally Posted by pding

ECR is in dire need of some planners with strong balls of steel!.



why do you say that? i mean what troubles are they facing??? but yes, traffic in this zone is increasing and proper steps should be taken now before the system becomes too inefficient to handle for the needs of passengers.

Vizag is a part of ECR, but geographically, it is the southrnmost point for ECR.
Vizag, the busiest port in India, is also the major revenue earner for ECR.
ECR has not done much to improve the public emenities at Vizag.
ECR (head qrtrs in Bhubaneshwar), for some geo-political reasons, long neglected Vizag.

There has not been any planning to expand/improve the (1) station complex (2) public emenities (3) more stops for popular trains (4) more trains on popular routes (5) construction of more local routes etc.
ECR has been doing things only as adhoc/firefighting basis, in a small scale.
People of Vizag have been requesting to either create a separate Rly Zone or to merge Vizag with SCR.

If you look at SR (Chennai), any location as potential as Vizag in terms of traffic and volume of goods handled by Rlys - would have been developed as a major station.

May be the people of AP don't know how to get things done with IR, or they have been too soft with the Central Govt, or they have been too busy with state politics, so they did not pay much attention to their needs with IR.
They need some good planning with IR.
They need some good campaign with IR.
They need to get what they deserve from IR.
(IR=Indian Rlys. IR is divided into 9 or so zones - NR, SR, SCR, ECR etc)

may be some one from Vizag should fill in more info interms of what I am saying...

[Babji]

URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/...1101330700.htm
East Coast Rly hopes to handle 79-mt freight traffic

EAST Coast Railway (ECR), having its headquarters in Bhubaneswar and network spread over large parts of Orissa and some parts of Andhra Pradesh, hopes to handle a freight traffic of 78-79 million tonnes (mt) in the current fiscal compared to 70.4 mt in 2004-05.

Wagon holdings: But then, as he pointed out, much would depend on the availability of rakes. There was a general shortage of Box-N wagons in the country ...

Thus, East Coast Railway was holding 98 rakes compared to 115 rakes of authorised holding. The corresponding figures for South Eastern Railway were 151 and 155, respectively and for South East Central Railway 122 and 155, respectively.

Several other zonal railways such as Eastern Railway, East Central Railway, Northern Railway, North Central Railway, South Central Railway and West Central Railway, however, presented just the opposite picture. Their wagon holdings were more than their authorised holdings.

Other problems: Non-availability of rakes is not the only problem facing ECR. The other problems include shortage of running staff and not-so-encouraging response of some of the major customers to develop their own railway sidings.

There were vacancies for 560 running staff, the majority of which had been filled up and the balance 200 or so would be filled soon.

The spokesman regretted that the railway sidings were not ready for most of the new steel plants coming up in the iron ore belt of the State; worse, some of the plant authorities were not even keen to develop their own rail infrastructure.

In some cases, land acquisition had been a problem. "The absence of sidings with major customers might force ECR to clamp restriction on wagon movement from time to time", the spokesman added.
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just an example how poor their planning and management could be!

[Babji]

http://www.vizagcityonline.com/Vizag...gfeatures.html

AN AGONISING 'KORBANI' FOR DAILY COMMUTERS:


Though the port city has been upgraded into Greater Visakha, Visakhapatnam Railway Station is still not big enough to receive and regulate the growing passenger traffic. Because of this very reason, people travelling by the Korba-Visakhapatnam Express are made to wait for nearly an hour more to reach their destination. Those who commute daily from Vizianagaram to Vizag for work and business, board the train at 6.50 a.m. Though its scheduled arrival time at Visakhapatnam is 8.20 a.m. it rarely reaches on time. Though the Express train reaches Simhachalam Railway Station around 7.20 a.m., it moves in fits and starts from there to reach Vizag around 9.00 a.m. After halting at Simhachalam for a while, it runs for about a furlong and halts again near Marripalem for sometime.

This is followed by another brief run and a halt just after crossing the railway over bridge near RP Peta, before it finally reaches Visakhapatnam Railway Station. If it is so agonising for those travelling from Vizianagaram (an hour's run), imagine the plight of long distance travellers, who are being literally forced by the Railways to make a 'Korbani' (Sacrifice) of their precious time. Some wise travellers, who can no longer bear this agonising wait, are getting off the train at Simhachalam to catch a bus or auto to reach their homes in the city from there to save time.

The Railway authorities say that this can't be avoided, as the Korba Express or any incoming train for that matter, should be stopped near the 'outer signal' to allow incoming trains like Visakha Express and the Palasa Passenger to leave the station around that time. The problem is likely to continue till the railway doubling works are completed and more platforms are added at Vizag Railway Station.

Meanwhile, the East Coast Railway (ECoR) has proposed diversion of several long distance trains via Duvvada to ease traffic congestion at Visakhapatnam Railway Station. If this becomes a reality, those travelling to Vizag will be able to reach their destination fast and on time. Till then, they may have to put up with the daily grind

[kronik]

URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com...11101330700.htm
East Coast Rly hopes to handle 79-mt freight traffic

wait, so how is this a project or infra news from Vizag?

If it is news for a zonal railway, maybe someone should post it in the indian railways thread is what i am saying.

[Babji]

Originally Posted by kronik

wait, so how is this a project or infra news from Vizag?

If it is news for a zonal railway, maybe someone should post it in the indian railways thread is what i am saying.

its more like a lack of infrastructure or scope/need/failure to improve infrastructure.
(the dark side of the bright picture).

it is primarily related to vizag and i am trying answer PDING's question.
agreed. it could belong to Indian Railways thread as well.
but original context has been, how the railways failed Vizag...

[pding]

i agree. yes, may be they do need to take some steps. this is a time when IR is in good phase and they're all happy about it. they are very confident about their future. so this is the right time to impress and persuade the IR to give more funds and make sure the problems don't persist.

[Babji]

URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/09/13/s...1312580300.htm

Readers' Mail

Vizag-Chennai Express

Sir, — I had the privilege of travelling by the 6006 Visakhapatnam-Chennai Weekly Express, whose departure time is 17-30 hrs, on August 27, and give below my experience at the Visakhapatnam railway station: 19-00 hrs: The bogies are positioned in platform no 1. 19-15 hrs: The doors of the sleeper coaches are unlocked. 19-23 hrs: Coach numbers are written on the bogies with white chalk and reservation charts are pasted. 19-27 hrs: The first trilingual announcement that the train is ready to leave is made. 19-37 hrs: The final announcement that the train is about to leave is made. 19-40 hrs: The train finally leaves the station. 20-50 hrs: The TTE makes his appearance to verify the tickets of S6 passengers. As there is no electric supply in the bogie, he does his job with the help of a pen torch. 23-00 hrs: The comfort of a light and a fan are introduced at Rajahmundry. 02-30hrs: The luxury of water is made available in the washbasin and toilets at Vijayawada.

It is my fond hope that the East Coast Railway's Waltair Division authorities will take note of the plight of passengers of this train, which has since become a super-fast express, and extend to them the comforts of travelling in a super-fast train.

C.G. Devy,

Visakhapatnam

[Babji]

URL: http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/...0302300100.htm

"We had a pleasant journey till now. Our travails have just begun, hope we reach our destination at least in an hour." This is the common refrain of passengers and commuters travelling by trains to the metro from Hyderabad and Vijayawada, after crossing Anakapalle Station.

Even prestigious trains like Godavari and Ratnachal are often delayed and sometimes take more than an hour to cover the 40 km. distance between Anakapalle and Visakhapatnam. The trains are often held up at Gopalapatnam and Kancharapalem due to non-availability of platforms to accommodate the incoming trains.
Visakhapatnam, a major Railway Junction and terminal Station, situated mid-way between Chennai and Howrah, has been at the receiving end for several decades when it came to provision of better amenities to passengers...
These trains are being frequently delayed after Anakapalle for the past several years. The Route Relay Interlocking (RRI) system is said to be one of the major causes for these trains being held up after Duvvada Station. The movement of trains is under the control of South Central Railway till Duvvada (excluding Duvvada Railway Station). The jurisdiction of East Coast Railway begins from Duvvada Station.

This apart, Visakhapatnam is a terminal station like Howrah and Chennai without terminal facilities. A major bottleneck in the movement of trains in and out of Visakhapatnam Railway Station is the single line through which all trains have to pass to reach the few platforms in the station. In Howrah and Chennai there are multiple lines which lead the trains to different platforms.

As if this is not enough, the powers that be in Orissa are extending one important train after another to Bhubaneswar. The same zeal is not being shown to extend the express trains terminating at Bhubaneswar to Visakhapatnam. People of the city feel that merging Waltair Division in South Central Railway or creation of a separate zone with Visakhapatnam as headquarters would solve the problem.

Another major problem for Visakhapatnam Junction is that it's a terminal station and all trains coming from Chennai and Hyderabad and proceeding towards Howrah and in the return direction have to invariably stop for a minimum of 20 minutes as the locomotives have to be detached and again attached at the other end...

There is every need to develop a satellite station to reduce the load on the main station.

But what are the plans to shuttle the passengers from Duvvada to the city?
Introduction of local trains and MMTS seems to be the only way out. Are the authorities listening?

[Luckystreak]

The problem with the Vizag railway station is, it is not along the main bubhaneshwar-vijaywada railway line (courtesy of the hilly terrain around it). The passenger trains have to make a winding route from the main line to reach the station. The passing freight traffic circumvent the vizag station easing the traffic to a certain extent.

I completely agree with the delay of trains when then are close enough to the station. But, halting the train at Duvvada is ridiculous proposition, as it is quite far from the main city. BTW, Duvvada is the place of Visakhapatnam SEZ fromerly known as (Visakhapatnam Export Processing Zone). Instead of shifting the halt, it would be better if they tackle the problem of rail bottlenecks in this part.


Secondly, all the trains that used to originate from Vizag have been extended to Bhubaneshwar with a good percentage of seats allocated for Bhubaneswar. A good example is the Visakha express which was intially between Vizag and hyderabad. It was then extended to Palasa in Srikakulam district and then slowly to Bhubaneshwar although there is no necessity. The sad part is the demand for the seats is far more in Vizag than Bhubaneswar with a lot of ppl left in the waiting list in Vizag while the trains themselves arrive with almost empty coaches from Bhubaneswar. These railway politics has been causing much inconvenience to ppl. for several years. So, as a solution for this, I support the bifurcation of the current SER or atleast merge the north coastal AP region with SCR.

[Luckystreak]

Tractor assembling unit in Vizag

A large scale tractor assembling unit would be established at Visakhapatnam.

If the government provides 250 acres of land, Pram Leasing company of Russia would establish tractor assembly plant in Vishakhapatnam. The company is keen on investing Rs. 4500 crores in India.

[pding]

that is good news. with a major port, Vizag can easily be established as an export hub for hardware and machinery type goods. such industries should be promoted and it will bring a lot of employment and investment for the region.

[Babji]

Originally Posted by Luckystreak

... These railway politics has been causing much inconvenience to ppl. for several years. So, as a solution for this, I support the bifurcation of the current SER or atleast merge the north coastal AP region with SCR.

Thanks Luckystreak.

I too support the bifurcation of the current SER or atleast merge the north coastal AP region with SCR.

[Babji]

URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/06/20/s...2003220200.htm

Modernisation works in Visakhapatnam airport to be completed in 2008

Existing departure lounge is being extended at a cost of Rs.46 lakhs
Airport handled 2,41,212 passengers in 2005-06
About 5,876 aircraft movements were handled in 2005-06
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ON THE GROWTH FLIGHT: The runway at Visakhapatnam airport is being expanded to receive international flights. - Photo: K.R. Deepak

VISAKHAPATNAM: Thanks to the growing passenger traffic and ongoing development works at the Visakhapatnam airport, more and more airlines are evincing keen interest to start their operations from here. An international airline has already expressed its readiness to operate flights to Singapore and the operations are expected to start once the full-fledged modernisation works are completed in 2008.

Now Kingfisher Airlines has been given the green signal and is expected to start its operations in the near future...

The VIP Lounge has been renovated at a cost of Rs.3.5 lakhs and has been commissioned. Canopies have been installed on both the city side (entrance) and airfield side at a cost of Rs.78 lakhs to provide shade to the passengers and visitors. Work on widening of the approach road to the airport from the National Highway (NH-5), taken up at a cost of Rs.60 lakhs, is in progress. "Plans are formulated to provide new facilities at the entrance of the terminal building. These include an ATM counter, snack bar, railway reservation and tourist information counters. The State Bank of India has set up an extension counter and is providing online facilities," he said. There is a significant increase in the number of air passengers from Visakhapatnam Airport. The number of passengers increased by more than 40,000 during the financial year 2005-06 compared to the previous year. The airport handled 2,41,212 passengers in 2005-06 against 1,99,960 in the previous year.A total of 5,876 aircraft movements were handled during 2005-06.

This apart, 566 non-scheduled aircrafts were handled during the same period. In April 2006 alone, the airport received 23,363 passengers.