Guntakal–Renigunta section connects and in the Indian state of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

. It is administered under

Guntakal railway division Guntakal railway division is one of the six Zones and divisions of Indian Railways, divisions of South Central Railway zone (SCR) of the Indian Railways. The headquarters of the division is at Guntakal. This division is second in terms of route ...

South Central Railway zone South Central Railway (abbreviated SCR) is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways. The jurisdiction of the zone is spread over the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka. It has three divisions under its administration, wh ...

. It has a total route length of .

History

The first train service in southern India and the third in India was operated by

Madras Railway Madras Railway (Madras Railway Company) was one of the railway companies operating rail services in British India. In 1832, the proposal to construct the first railway line in India at Madras was made by the British. In 1835, the railway trac ...

from / Veyasarapady to Wallajah Road (Arcot) in 1856. Madras Railway extended its trunk route to Beypur / Kadalundi (near Calicut) and initiated work on a north-western branch out of

Arakkonam Arakkonam () is a railway town in the Ranipet district, state of Tamil Nadu. Included within the Chennai metropolitan area, Chennai Metropolitan Area since 2022, Arakkonam is a major suburb of the state capital city Chennai, with a population ...

in 1861. The branch line reached Renigunta in 1862. The branch line out of Arakkonam reached in 1871, where it connected to the

Great Indian Peninsula Railway The Great Indian Peninsula Railway (reporting mark GIPR) was a predecessor of the Central Railway (and by extension, the current state-owned Indian Railways), whose headquarters was at the Boree Bunder in Mumbai (later, the Victoria Terminu ...

line from Mumbai.

Railway reorganization

In the early 1950s legislation was passed authorizing the central government to take over independent railway systems that were there. On 14 April 1951 the

Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway The Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway was a railway company that operated in southern India. It was founded on 1 January 1908 by merging the Madras Railway and the Southern Mahratta Railway. Initially, its headquarters was at Royapuram in ...

, the

South Indian Railway Company The South Indian Railway Company operated a number of gauge lines in South India from 1874 to 1951. History The Great Southern of India Railway Company was established with its headquarters in England in 1853. The Carnatic Railway Company wa ...

and Mysore State Railway were merged to form Southern Railway. Subsequently,

Nizam's Guaranteed State Railway Nizam's Guaranteed State Railway (NGSR) was a railway company operating in India from 1883 to 1950. The company began with a line built privately by the HEH, the Nizam, which was owned and operated by the company under a guarantee from the Hy ...

was also merged into Southern Railway. On 2 October 1966, the Secunderabad, Solapur, Hubli and Vijayawada Divisions, covering the former territories of Nizam's Guaranteed State Railway and certain portions of Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway were separated from Southern Railway to form the

South Central Railway South Central Railway (abbreviated SCR) is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways. The jurisdiction of the zone is spread over the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka. It has three divisions under its administration, wh ...

. In 1977, Guntakal division of Southern Railway was transferred to South Central Railway and the Solapur division transferred to Central Railway. Amongst the seven new zones created in 2003 was

South Western Railway South Western Railway Limited, trading as South Western Railway (SWR), is the British state-owned train operating company that took over the services of the South Western Railway (2017–2025), operator of the same name from FirstGroup and MTR ...

, which was carved out of Southern Railway.

Electrification

Electrification of the 308 km long Renigunta–Guntakal section was announced in 2003 at a cost of Rs. 168 crore. The Renigunta–Nandalur sector electrification was completed in 2006. The Nandalur-Guntakal sector was electrified by 2013.

Connectivity

Obulavaripalli in this line connects the newly constructing Krishnapatnam–Obulavaripalle railway line.

Speed limit

As of 2022, doubling and electrification of the Renigunta–Guntakal section has been completed and commissioned with 130 KM Max. Permissible Speed.

Sheds and workshops

Diesel Loco Shed, Guntakal Diesel Loco Shed, Guntakal is an engine shed located in Guntakal, Andhra Pradesh in India. It falls under the jurisdiction of Guntakal railway division of South Central Railway zone. It is one of the oldest loco sheds, started in 1964 as a M.G ...

was started as a metre-gauge shed but after gauge conversions in Guntakal and Hubli divisions a broad-gauge shed was opened in 1995. It houses

WDM-2 The Indian locomotive class WDM-2 is a class of diesel–electric locomotive that was developed in 1962 by American Locomotive Company (ALCO) for Indian Railways. The model name stands for 5 ft 6 in gauge railway, broad gauge (W), Diesel (D), ...

, WDM-3A, WDM-3D and WDG-3A locos. There is a routine overhaul depot for wagon maintenance at Raichur and a coaching maintenance depot at Guntakal. Diesel Loco Shed, Gooty has one of the largest sheds with 175+ locos that include WDG-3A, WDM-3A, WDM-3D, WDG-4, WDP-4 diesel locos. It also handles routine maintenance for WDG-4 locos. It earlier used to be broad-gauge steam loco shed. Renigunta has an electric trip shed.

References

External links

Trains at GuntakalTrains at Renigunta
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guntakal - Renigunta section 5 ft 6 in gauge railways in India Rail transport in Tamil Nadu Rail transport in Andhra Pradesh * * 1871 establishments in India Transport in Guntakal Transport in Tirupati