Andhra Pradesh is well connected with various destinations in India, as well as other countries. It has road, rail, airways. With a long coast of Bay of Bengal and many sea ports, it flourishes in sea trade as well. The state has one of the largest railway junctions at Vijayawada[1] and Visakhapatnam Port being one of the largest cargo handling seaport.[2]
Road
Andhra Pradesh has an extensive road network of 123,334 km (76,636 mi) with various types of roads such as, national highways, state highways, district roads etc.[3] The road network of the state is maintained by Andhra Pradesh Road Development Corporation, under the Roads and Buildings Department of the state.[4][5]
National and state highways
The state has a total of 4,422.53 km (2,748.03 mi) of national highways.[6] NH 16 is the longest national highway with a length of 1,024 km (636 mi) and runs from Srikakulam district to Nellore district.[7] The highway forms a part of Golden Quadrilateral Project undertaken by National Highways Development Project and a part of AH 45 of Asian Highway Network.[8][9]
Total network of state highways is 7,255 km (4,508 mi).[10] and 19,783 km (12,293 mi) of major district roads. Out of 91,994 km (57,162 mi) of other type of roads, there are 21,740.90 km (13,509.17 mi) of roads in the urban local bodies and municipal roads cover 19,118.97 km (11,879.98 mi).[11]
Expressways
Some of the highways are developed as Expressways in PPP model. Notable among these are:
- Vijayawada–Hyderabad Expressway
- NAM Expressway
- Bangalore-Vijayawada Expressway (DPR Preparation)
Bus
The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) operates bus services and is the primary mode of public transport in the state, which is owned by the state government. As of February 2017[update], it had a total of 11,918 buses with 970 bus shelters and connecting over 14,000 villages in over 3,000 routes.[12] The headquarters of APSRTC is located at NTR Administrative Block of RTC House in Pandit Nehru bus station of Vijayawada.[13][14]
Apart from government run APSRTC, there are also many private buses operating in the state.[15] Auto rickshaws and cabs are also a common mode of transport, with the recent introduction of She Autos, driven by women.[16]
Freight
The transport of goods in the state depends mainly on lorries, mini trucks and auto rickshaws.[17] APSRTC, as a joint venture with Alloy Nitrides Ltd. was established in the year 1976, used for transportation of unaccompanied luggage, parcel/packets by their buses.[18]
Railways
Andhra Pradesh has a total railway route of 3703.25 km.[19] The rail density of the state is 16.59 per 1,000 km (620 mi), compared to an all India average of 20.[20][3] The Howrah–Chennai main line which runs through the state is proposed to be upgraded into a high-speed rail corridor through the Diamond Quadrilateral project of the Indian Railways.[21][22]
The railway network in Andhra Pradesh is under South Central Railway, East Coast railway and South Western railway zones. Secunderabad,Hyderabad,Vijayawada,Guntakal and Guntur divisions are part of South Central Railway. Waltair and Khurda Road divisions are part of the East coast railway. Bangalore division is part of the South Western railway.[23][24][25]
There are three A1 and twenty three A-category railway stations in the state.[26] Visakhapatnam railway station has been declared the cleanest railway station in the country.[27] The railway station of Shimiliguda was the first highest broad gauge railway station in the country.[28]
Airports
Andhra Pradesh has three functional domestic airports and three international airports. The state has a customs airport at Visakhapatnam. It serves more than 2.8 million passengers annually.[29] It operates flights to Singapore, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Thailand and domestic Services as Well. There are three domestic airports at Kadapa, Rajahmundry and Kurnool.
Vijayawada Airport, Visakhapatnam Airport and Tirupati Airport serve as international airports. There are plans to set up an airport in every district of Andhra Pradesh.[30]
Visakhapatnam airport is the largest airport in the state and handles over 60% of the domestic traffic of the state. The total passenger traffic in the state stood at 1.48 million as of 2013.[31]
Seaports
The state has a coastline of 974 km (605 mi) and is the second longest in the country.[32] The state has 14 Ports with a sum of 250 Mt (250,000,000 long tons; 280,000,000 short tons) capacity. Visakhapatnam, Gangavaram and Krishnapatnam Ports are the three deep water ports.[3] During 2014–15, the traffic handled at non-major ports in the state was 83.43 Mt (82,110,000 long tons; 91,970,000 short tons).[33] Government planned to develop new ports at Bhavanapadu, Narsapur, Ramayapatnam and Duggirajapatnam.[3]
Inland waterways
Inland waterways are the most economical way of transporting goods in Andhra Pradesh. National Waterway 4 starts at Kakinada and travels through Eluru, Vijayawada cities in the state and ends at Puducherry near Chennai. As of 2014 a network of 888 km of National Waterway is available in the state.[34] This waterway is scheduled to begin transport in December 2017.[35]