Visakhapatnam Port at the mouth of the Meghadrigedda was opened in 1933. It was initially developed by Bengal Nagpur Railway. The port has an inner harbour and an outer harbour . Visakhapatnam port handled 68.04 million tonnes of cargo in 2010–11, which was the second highest in India after Kandla. Visakhapatnam port is being upgraded to handle ships up to 200,000 DWT.[4][5]
Gangavaram Port came up in 2008 and is claimed to be deepest port in India, which can handle ships up to 200,000 DWT.[6]
Gopalpur-on-Sea is being developed into a deep sea port capable of handling ships up to 120,000 DWT.[8]
History
Howrah–Chennai main line
During the period 1893 to 1896, 1,287 km (800 mi) of railway tracks covering the entire coastal stretch from Cuttack to Vijayawada, was built and opened to traffic by East Coast State Railway.[9][10]Bengal Nagpur Railway's line to Cuttack was opened on 1 January 1899.[9] The southern part of the East Coast State Railway (from Waltair to Vijayawada) was taken over by Madras Railway in 1901.[11] The 514 km (319 mi)-long northern portion of the East Coast line to Cuttack, including the branch line to Puri, was taken over by Bengal Nagpur Railway in 1902.[10][12]
Branch lines
The 79 km (49 mi) Vizianagaram–Parvatipuram line was opened in 1908–09 and an extension to Salur was built in 1913. The Parvatipuram–Raipur line was completed in 1931.[9] (More information is available in the Jharsuguda–Vizianagaram line.)
In 1960, Indian Railway took up three projects: the Kottavalasa–Koraput–Jeypore–Kirandaul line (Dandakaranya Project ), the Titlagarh–Bolangir–Jharsuguda Project and the Rourkela–Kiriburu Project. All the three projects taken together were popularly known as the DBK Project or the Dandakaranya Bolangir Kiriburu Project.[13] The Kottavalasa–Kirandaul line was opened in 1966–67.[10]
The Paralakhemedi Light Railway opened the Naupada–Gunupur line between 1900 and 1931.[9][14] The line was converted to broad gauge in 2011.[15]
Howrah–Chennai Mail was the first train in South Eastern Railway to be hauled by a diesel engine (WDM-1) in 1965.[18]
The Khurda–Visakhapatnam section was completely electrified by 2002. The Howrah–Chennai route was completely electrified by 2005.[19]
Speed limits
The entire Kharagpur–Visakhapatnam–Vijayawada main line is classified as a "Group B" line which can take speeds up to 130 km/h. In the branch lines the speed limit is 100 km/h.[20]