| Kottavalasa Junction | |
| Type: | Junction station |
| Style: | Indian Railways |
| Address: | Visakhapatnam–Aarku Road, Kothavalasa, Vizianagaram dt., Andhra Pradesh |
| Country: | India |
| Elevation: | 560NaN0 |
| Line: | Khurda Road–Visakhapatnam section of Howrah–Chennai main line Kothavalasa–Kirandul line |
| Structure: | Standard (on-ground station) |
| Platform: | 5 |
| Tracks: | broad gauge |
| Parking: | Available |
| Electrified: | Yes |
| Accessible: | Yes |
| Operator: | South Coast Railway |
| Status: | Functioning |
| Former: | East Coast State Railway Bengal Nagpur Railway |
| Map Type: | India Visakhapatnam# India Andhra Pradesh#India |
Kothavalasa Junction railway station (station code: KTV) located in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, serves Kothavalasa in Vizianagaram district. It is a major freight transit point with iron ore rakes travelling from mines around Kirandul and Bailadila in Chhattisgarh to Visakhapatnam Port.
Between 1893 and 1896, 12880NaN0 of the East Coast State Railway was opened for traffic. In 1898–99, Bengal Nagpur Railway was linked to the lines in southern India.[1]
In 1960, Indian Railways took up three projects: the Kothavalasa–Araku–Koraput–Jeypore–Jagdalpur–Dantewara–Kirandaul line, the Jharsuguda–Sambalpur–Bargarh–Balangir–Titlagarh Project and the Biramitrapur–Rourkela–Bimlagarh–Kiriburu Project. All the three projects taken together were popularly known as the DBK Project or the Dandakaranya Bolangir Kiriburu Project (under Dandakaranya Project).[2] The Kothavalasa–Kirandaul line was opened in 1966–67.[3]
The Visakhapatnam–Kothavalasa–Araku–Koraput–Jeypore Jagdalpur–Dantewara–Kirandul section was electrified in the year 1980–83.[4]
The Bengal Nagpur Railway was nationalized in 1944.[5] Eastern Railway was formed on 14 April 1952 with the portion of East Indian Railway Company east of Mughalsarai and the Bengal Nagpur Railway.[6] In 1955, South Eastern Railway was carved out of Eastern Railway. It comprised lines mostly operated by BNR earlier.[6] [7] Amongst the new zones started in April 2003 were East Coast Railway and South East Central Railway. Both these railways were carved out of South Eastern Railway.[6] Railway. South Coast Railway was carved out of East Coast Railway and South Central Railway on 27 feb 2019.