Duvvada railway station to sport a new look after redevelopment work

The redevelopment work in progress on Platform-4 of Duvvada Railway Station in Visakhapatnam.
| Photo Credit: V. RAJU

Duvvada railway station, which caters to the needs of passengers from the industrial belt of Visakhapatnam, will soon get a new look going by the progress of the ongoing works, taken up with ₹26.31 crore. Duvvada is regarded as the ‘gateway to Visakhapatnam’, the largest city in Andhra Pradesh.

The redevelopment work at the station, launched on August 5, 2023, has picked up pace and is progressing. A new building is being constructed on PF-1 side, a little ahead of the high compound walls, which were constructed to prevent rail users from crossing the two dedicated railway lines passing, a little ahead of the main station building for movement of coal to the NTPC-Simhadri plant, to reach the main station building.

A ramp type FOB, about 10-foot wide, was inaugurated on September 6, 2003, by then Union Minister of State for Railways Bandaru Dattatreya to enable passengers to reach the main entry (PF-1 side) of the railway station. Initially, autorickshaws, cars and two-wheelers apart from pedestrians were allowed on the ramp type FOB. But, subsequently the movement of cars and later autorickshaws was stopped to prevent accidents on the FOB. The construction of the new building ahead of the ‘enclosed dedicated lines of NTPC’ will allow passengers to reach the main station building directly from the road.

Duvvada has bagged the 13th position among the top 20 revenue generating stations over East Coast Railway (E Co R) with earnings of ₹27.20 crore through the sale of 5,74,547 tickets between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024. The total footfall (incoming and outgoing passengers) during the same period was 21,54,997, according to information obtained under RTI Act by Kanchumurthi Eswar, secretary, Duvvada Railway Users’ Association(DRUA).

The station, which began its journey in a small building in 1903, got a new remodelled building, which was inaugurated by the then Union Minister of State for Railways Satpal Maharaj, on March 23, 1997. In subsequent years, another building was constructed on the other side (platform-4 side), providing a second entry to the railway station.

A flurry of activity was witnessed as part of the construction of the new station building, under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme on Monday(November 4). A worker was seen removing the surface of the concrete floor with a machine to raise the height of the platform floor. The earth work on extension of the platform (PF-4) towards Anakapalli, is being done. Concrete pillars were constructed up to the ground level on PF-4 for fabrication of iron pillars and provision of a 12-metre-wide FOB, which would provide access to PF-1 side.