Visakhapatnam - Transport

Transport

Air

Visakhapatnam Airport is the busiest airport in Coastal Andhra. It is connected by daily flights with Dubai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Tirupati, Kolkata, Kochi and tri-weekly flights to singapore. Visakhapatnam Airport recently received permission to operate night flights, and the airport is open until 23:55. A new 10,000-foot (3 km) runway is operational to accommodate international flights and larger aircraft. The airport was recently modernized (including jet bridges and immigration booths), and the new terminal was opened on 21 March 2009. Visakhapatnam became an international airport when Air India began flights to Dubai (via Hyderabad) on 25 March 2012. Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines have agreed to begin international flights from Visakhapatnam. Vizag airport is going to be operational round the clock from 15-10-2012 as Central government agreed to provide additional manpower & sent the file to Defence ministry for its approval.

Road

Visakhapatnam is one of the major cities on the east coast of India connected by NH5, a major highway and a part of the Golden Quadrilateral system of Indian highways connecting Chennai and Kolkata. The section of NH5 from Kolkata to Chennai connects Visakhapatnam on the northeast and the south. The highway is an important route for transporting cargo and people from these cities via Visakhapatnam. The city has a broad network of roads. There are frequent buses to Kakinada, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, Araku, Guntur and Rajahmundry, and bus service to Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Guntur, Ongole Tirupati, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Koraput, Rayagada and elsewhere in Karnataka.

Residents of Visakhapatnam use a public-transport network provided by the APSRTC, which runs buses along a number of routes across the city and its suburbs. The APSRTC complex at Asilametta is the hub for most of these buses, and there are traffic jams during rush hours in the heavily-populated, congested Asilametta Junction. The city corporation plans subways, pedestrian overpasses and flyovers to address traffic problems.

A Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) was approved for the city under the JNNURM. This will make use of dedicated lanes for buses, allowing for an efficient, high-speed mode of transport for the public, reducing traffic congestion and improving safety. The project is planned for completion by the end of 2015.

Rail

Train from Visakhapatnam started from 1894 oct 1st it self. At starting railways station used to be at one town near Old post office, back side of Laxmitakies. Later in 1968 to present location and it used to call Waltair railway station. Later around 1987 Mr. D.V Subbarao Mayor of Visakhapatnam at time changed the name as Visakhapatnam. The famous trains likes Howrah-Madras mail used to via Visakhapatnam in 1900 itself. Now the railway station at Visakhapatnam is administered by the East Coast Railway of Indian Railways. It is on the Chennai Central-Howrah Station route, although the main line bypasses the Central Station. A suburban station on the main line (near the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant at Duvvada) is being developed into a satellite hub to improve service into the city.

There are direct rail links to Machilipatnam, Vijayawada Junction, Secunderabad Railway Station, Tirupati, Bhubaneswar, Nagpur, Bangalore Bhopal Junction, Mumbai, Surat, Porbandar, Okha, Mangalore, Tiruchchirapalli, Puri, Raipur, Bilaspur, Korba, Nasik, Amritsar, Patna, Ernakulam, Trivandrum, Malda, Kanniyakumari, Shirdi, Aurangabad, Haldia, Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Rameswaram, Tata nagar, Digha Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad, Jammu Tawi, Bhilai, Gwalior, Chennai Central, Vellore-Katpadi Junction, Howrah Station, New Delhi Railway Station etc., and also has direct services to Indore, Ujjain, Coimbatore, Jaipur and other major cities. Visakhapatnam has a daily Gribrath express service to Secunderabad which is only daily Garibrath train all over India.

The K-K line from Visakahaptnam to Kirandul via Araku is laid through eastern ghats. Up to Araku station its having many tunnels. Also it pass through the south India's highest elevation Broad gauge station Similiguda just before Borra caves.

Sea

On the east coast of India, Visakhapatnam serves as the gateway waterway for Andhra Pradesh. It has one of the country's largest ports, and the oldest shipyard on the east coast. It is a land-locked harbour, as connected to the sea by a channel cut through rock and sand. Visakhapatnam is one of the busiest ports in India. Vizag Seaport owns two berths in the inner harbour; berth EQ-8 is fully mechanized and berth EQ-9 berth is not. Both berths are capable of handling Panamax vessels. The shipyard at Visakhapatnam is the largest in India. On the Chennai–Kolkota corridor, the city is also a hub for ground traffic. The Gangavaram Port is India's deepest seaport. In December 2010, Coal India agreed to enable an additional berth to be built at the port.