A decision of the Railway Board to carve out a 50 km Palasa-Ichchapuram section from the East Coast Railway (ECoR) zone and add it to the newly formed South Coast Railway (SCoR) has united the ruling BJP and the opposition BJD in Odisha. The parties are demanding that the decision be rescinded as it will affect the revenue of ECoR, which covers almost the entire state.
The Railway Board maintains that none of the seven stations in the Palasa-Ichchapuram section is located within Odisha, and these are small to mid-sized stations that primarily handle passenger traffic. The Board also stated that none of them is a major freight loading point. The Palasa-Ichchapuram stretch is located in Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam district and has so far been covered under ECoR’s Khurda Road division.
Why is there opposition?
The concern over the reduction of ECoR’s jurisdiction has been raised repeatedly since the formation of SCoR. Headquartered in Bhubaneswar, ECoR is the Railways’ largest freight-loading and revenue-generating zone, and is often referred to as the Railways’ “blue-chip” zone. In the last financial year 2025-26, the zone transported 286 million tonnes of freight, accounting for over 17% of the total freight loading in the Railways during the period. Other zones that perform close to ECoR include South East Central Railway (SECR), South Eastern Railway (SER), and East Central Railway (ECR).
While nearly 65% of Indian Railways’ revenue comes from freight, the share of goods revenue in ECoR is more than 90%. The zone stretches along a long coastal line rich in minerals and natural resources. Its Khurda Road division, from where the carving out of a 50 km section has triggered protests in the state, includes the Talcher coal loading hub – the largest coal loading point served from a single station in Asia. It consists of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited, from where coal is transported by rail to NTPC’s thermal power plants at Talcher and Kaniha, as well as to other power plants in southern and western India.
The division also has Paradeep Railway station which caters to the Paradeep port and surrounding industries. It supplies coal, iron pellets, fertiliser, POL (Petroleum, Oil, and Lubricants), Gypsum, Manganese Ore, Clinker and limestone. The division also covers major steel industries such as Tata Steel, Jindal Stainless Ltd., Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd., and Bhushan Steel Limited.
Since the entire zone and its divisions enjoy high freight loading and revenue generation power, the political parties in the state have opposed the reduction in its area.
What did the Railway Board say?
The newly created South Coast Railway Zone is headquartered at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. The Railway Board said that the inclusion of the Palasa-Ichchapuram stretch is a technical revision to ensure the smooth functioning of the passenger services in the Visakhapatnam division in SCoR. The 50-km section consists of seven stations, namely Palasa, Summadevi, Mandasa Road, Baruva, Sompeta, Jhadupudi and Ichchapuram. All of these stations are situated in Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam district.
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“These stations are small to mid-sized stations handling primarily passenger traffic. Therefore, ECoR’s revenue will remain unaffected. Pass-through freight traffic (trains transiting through these stations en route) will continue uninterrupted regardless of which zone’s jurisdiction the stations fall under. All existing trains including Palasa-Bhubaneswar, Palasa-Cuttack, and Ichchapuram-Cuttack MEMU/passenger services will continue to operate without any change in schedule, route, or frequency,” said the Board in a statement.
It further said that the modalities of the transfer, including staff deployment, are being finalised between ECoR and SCoR. The interests and service conditions of all railway employees will be fully protected as per established norms, said the board.
Why was SCoR created?
The genesis of SCoR lies in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act of 2014, which led to the formation of Telangana state. While there was a long-standing demand for a separate railway zone in the state, it was fulfilled only after a consensus of power came about between the state and the Centre. Andhra Pradesh’s ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre.
On February 7, 2025, the Union Cabinet gave ex post facto approval for the creation of the new South Coast Railway Zone, making it the 18th zone of Indian Railways. For SCoR, the government divided ECoR’s erstwhile Waltair division into two parts. Around 410 km was assigned to the Visakhapatnam division, while the remaining 680 km was renamed as the Rayagada division, replacing the colonial-era name.
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The entire SCoR covers a significant portion of Andhra Pradesh, along with parts of Telangana and Tamil Nadu. Apart from the Visakhapatnam division, the railways include divisions for Vijayawada (from South Central Railway) and Guntur (from South Central Railway).
While BJD alleged that there has been a sustained “conspiracy” to weaken ECoR, the Railway Board said that record capital expenditure on railway network expansion, station modernisation, Vande Bharat services, and the newly created Rayagada Division under ECoR are evidence of its commitment to Odisha.
