
Railway
network at Port of Visakhapatnam is the largest amongst Indian Ports with over
200km rail length, over 30 Sidings and ~60% rail coefficient. The Port has a
close interface with Waltair Division of East Coast Railways which facilitates
quick transportation of EXIM cargo from/to all the States in the Country and at
time to Pakistan and Bangladesh also. Port is equipped with 15 WDS-6 locos of
1400 HP and 3 WDG-3 locos of 3100 HP capacity for carrying Train operations.
The
Rail network at Port has two systems viz., Iron ore(Mechanical Tippling) and
General (other than Iron ore Mechanical), for handling food grains,
fertilizers, thermal coal, steel products, coking coal, Iron Ore(manual
unloading) & other mineral ores, POL products etc.
Iron
Ore (Mechanical Tippling) System: The interchange yard between Port & Railways is
Ore Exchange Complex (OEC) of the Waltair Marshalling Yard (MYD) of East Coast
Railways. Iron Ore trains for mechanical tippling are transported with Port
locomotives from OEC to the Port Ore Handling Complex (OHC) and mechanically
tippled at its Tipplers. The average interchange between the Port and Railways
at OEC is ~24 per day.
General Traffic (other than Iron Ore Mechanical): The interchange yard between Port & Railways is the Reception and Dispatch yard (R&D) of the Port where the Railway locomotives hand over trains meant for Port and take over trains from Port. Port locomotives take over trains from R&D Yard for their further placement at its Sidings. At times, the Port locomotives drop trains at the Dispatch Yard of the Waltair Marshalling Yard of East Coast Railways and the Railway locomotives drops trains at the Port Sidings to alleviate congestion problems and improve Loco utility. The Port R&D Yard is connected to the Railway Waltair Marshalling Yard at a very close proximity by Twin Single Lines. The average interchange between the Port and Railways at R&D Yard is ~36 per day. The Port is connected to trunk railways directly through the Waltair Railway Marshalling Yard to the Chennai-Howrah main line of East Coast. This line branches off at Kothavalsa leading to Bailadilla Iron Ore mines in Chhattisgarh. This main line goes further up North passing through coastal Orissa, West Bengal up to Assam facilitating movement of imported fertilizers petroleum products etc. to various stations.