Vijayawada Junction is a major railway station of Indian Railways serving the city of Vijayawada Andhra Pradesh. The station falls in the Vijayawada railway division of the South Central Railway zone of the Indian Railways. Situated on the Chennai-Howrah rail line and Chennai-New Delhi rail line, Vijayawada Junction is the busiest railway station in South India and the South Central Railway and also the third busiest railway station in the Indian Railways after New Delhi Railway Station and Howrah station.It is the terminating point for the Vijayawada-Wadi rail line.
Vijayawada Railway Station is well connected with the major cities and towns in India. More than 170 trains rendering their services to this station daily, it is renowned as the transfer point for most of the SCR rail passengers.
History
The Vijayawada station was constructed in 1888 when the Southern Maharattan Railway's main eastward route was connected with other lines going until Vijayawada.The next year(1889), the Nizam's Guaranteed State Railway constructed a line between Secunderabad Railway Station and Vijayawada as Bezawada extension railway.By this, the station became a junction of lines from three directions.On November 1st 1899, the broad gauge line was constructed between Vijayawada and Chennai, making rail journey between Chennai to Mumbai, Howrah, Delhi, Hyderabad possible.From the decades from then the Vijayawada railway station was shaped as a junction until the Nationalisation of all the independent railways in India as Indian Railwaysunder the Ministry of Railways in 1950 by the Government of India.The Vijayawada railway station as the headquarter of Vijayawada Division was assigned to the Southern Railway.In 1966, a new zone, South Central Railway was formed with Secunderabad as it's headquarter with Vijayawada Division along with Vijayawada Junction merged in it.
In 1969, the Golconda Express was introduced between Vijayawada and Secunderabad as the fastest steam-hauled train in the country with an average speed is 58 km/h.The Vijayawada railway station is today the Busiest and the biggest railway junction in South India.
The Vijayawada station got A-1 status with its revenue earnings crossing the Rs. 100-crore mark in the financial year 2007-08.
