Amaravati railway station may move near Tadikonda; 3.38 km Krishna bridge put at Rs 565.83 crore

The main Amaravati railway station is set to come up about 5 km from Tadikonda instead of between Nekkallu and Pedaparimi, after railway officials redrew a stretch of the Errupalem-Namburu line that ran into the planned inner ring road. The change lengthens the new line from 56.53 km to 58.10 km. No official announcement on the revised alignment has been made yet, and details from the Vijayawada railway division on Friday, 6 November, still put the length at 56.53 km.

Those details centred on the Krishna bridge, the line’s biggest structure. Nusrat Mandrupkar, the division’s PRO, said it will be 3.38 km long, on 53 spans of 61 metres each, with open-web steel girders and double-D wells. With approach works it is estimated at Rs 565.83 crore, within a total project cost of Rs 2,047.4 crore. Khammam in Telangana holds 3.525 km of the route she described; the other 53.005 km crosses NTR, Palnadu and Guntur districts.

Nine stations on a single track

Starting near Errupalem on the Vijayawada-Kazipet route, the line passes through Amaravati and joins the Vijayawada-Guntur route at Namburu, turning both end points into junctions. Peddapuram, Paritala, Amaravati and Koppuravuru will be crossing stations with two or three loop lines each, since the route is single-track. Tadikonda, Vaddamanu, Kothapalli, Gottumukkala and Chennaravupalem will be passenger halts with no extra track.

Counting loops and bypass lines, 74 km of track will be laid for speeds of up to 160 km/h. The Krishna bridge and its approaches run to 4.95 km; the foundation will take two tracks, though only one goes down for now. The project also has 32 major and 92 minor bridges. Near Koppuravuru the Railways plans a mega coach terminal for train maintenance, with nine platforms for 24-coach LHB rakes, six pit lines and 12 stabling lines. It has asked CRDA for 230 acres.

Land, deadline and a second Krishna bridge

Sanction came on 8 November 2024, with 33 months to finish. A tender issued on 10 March 2026 was opened on 23 May; the division did not name a contractor. NTR district has its first land notification, under Section 20A of the Railways Act, and the Section 20E declaration is in progress. Palnadu is giving land through land pooling.

A separate crossing is planned at Vijayawada itself. At Seethanagaram, a 1.30 km third railway bridge would stand beside the two already there, as part of the 293 km Vijayawada-Gudur fourth line estimated at Rs 5,858 crore. Officials say trains from Tenali and Guntur would then stop waiting at Krishna Canal for a signal. The detailed project report is with the Railway Board, which has yet to approve it.