Hyderabad, June 2 -- A separate railway zone for Andhra Pradesh - the South Coast Railway zone - came into existence on Monday, with officials formally launching their operations at its new zonal headquarters at Visakhapatnam.

Union minister for civil aviation Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, along with government whip Bendalam Ashok, formally unveiled the welcome board of South Coast Railway zone at AS Peta railway station on the Andhra-Odisha border region of Ichchapuram mandal in the morning.

Speaking to reporters after performing the traditional inaugural rituals and planting a sapling to mark the occasion, Rammohan Naidu recalled that he had fought for the Visakhapatnam Railway Zone issue several times in Parliament and recalled staging a...