Vijayawada Transport Guide: Roads, Metro, Railway, and Air Travel!
- Vijayawada Express
- Aug 10
- 5 min read
Public Transport (APSRTC)
Vijayawada Metro Rail System
Suburban and High-Speed Rail
Vijayawada International Airport
Vijayawada Railway Station
Golden Mile Project, Vijayawada
Road Network
Public Transport (APSRTC)
Vijayawada is in the center of Andhra Pradesh between two major highways, NH65 and NH16, which connect Vijayawada to Hyderabad and Mumbai towards the west and Chennai towards the south and Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar and Kolkata to the north. The APSRTC (Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation) is one of the most extensive state-run bus services that carries people and cargo within and outside the state with a fleet of over 12,000 buses. Vijayawada Bus Station is one of the largest bus stations in terms of the number of platforms, called “Jawaharlal Nehru Bus Station. The primary modes of intra-city public transport are city buses and auto rickshaws. Apart from these, other means of transport are motorcycles, cycle rickshaws, and bicycles. The Pandit Nehru Bus Station and the Vijayawada Junction railway station are the major road and rail transport infrastructure. The Pandit Nehru bus station, also called Jawaharlal Nehru Bus Station, is the administrative headquarters of APSRTC, which is ranked as the fourth largest and busiest bus terminal in the country. The City Division of APSRTC operates nearly 450 buses for an average of 300,000 daily commuting passengers. The Autonagar bus terminus and the city bus port are used for city bus services. The city buses run on major routes of Besant Road, Eluru Road, MG Road and to the city outskirts of Ibrahimpatnam, Kondapalli, Mangalagiri, Kankipadu, Uyyuru, Gannavaram, Nidamanuru and Nunna. In 2016, APSRTS discontinued city services on the BRTS corridor due to poor response from the commuters. It was built at a reported cost of ₹150 crore (US$18 million), exclusively used by city buses.
Vijayawada Metro Rail System
A 66 km light transit system is proposed to connect the city of Vijayawada with Amaravati and its surrounding suburbs. The metro project is implemented by a special purpose vehicle named Amaravati Metro Rail Corporation. Amaravati Metro Rail Corporation has been renamed Andhra Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation Ltd after the Managing Director of AMRC suggested that it is appropriate to change the name AMRC to APMRC to implement the Metro Projects in other parts of the State, and the ruling obliged.
Suburban and High-Speed Rail
A proposed circular train connectivity would connect Vijayawada with neighbouring cities of Eluru, Guntur, Tenali, Mangalagiri and the state capital, Amaravati.
Vijayawada International Airport
The Vijayawada Airport at Gannavaram, approximately 25 km from the city centre, provides air connectivity to major metropolitan cities of the country like Bengaluru, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi and International routes like Kuwait, Sharjah and many other routes through connecting flights both domestic and international from those cities. On 3 May 2017, the airport was upgraded from domestic to global. Air India, Indigo and Spice Jet operate at the Vijayawada Airport. International flights started on 4 December 2018 with Indigo Airlines going to Singapore. As of June 2019, it registered a domestic passenger movement growth rate of 70.0% with a total of 11 Lakh 92 thousand Passengers in FY 19. Aircraft movement recorded a growth of 65.0%.
Vijayawada Railway Station
Vijayawada is well connected with all the major and minor stations in the country. Vijayawada Railway Junction is one of the busiest and major railway junctions in South India and is classified as a Non-Suburban Grade-2 (NSG-2) station in the Vijayawada railway division. It is the 4th major station with over 10 platforms among the stations in India. One hundred trains pass through this station, making it a major railway connecting point in the Indian Railway Network. Vijayawada Junction railway station was established in 1888. The station is a junction station for the trains from Hyderabad, Chennai Central, Machilipatnam and Visakhapatnam Junction. A train route connecting Vijayawada and Hyderabad was laid in 1889. Suburban rail services are operated from the railway station to the nearby cities of Guntur and Tenali. The city houses the headquarters of the Vijayawada railway division, one of the three railway divisions of the South Coast Railway zone. The station also has diesel and electric loco sheds, which can hold 220 locos in both sheds. The city of Vijayawada has several satellite stations such as Gannavaram, Gunadala, Krishna Canal, Ramavarappadu, Kondapalli, Rayanapadu, Madhura Nagar, and Nidamanuru.
Golden Mile Project, Vijayawada
MG Road in Vijayawada is home to the Golden Mile Project, India’s first brilliant street initiative. Covering a 2.9 km stretch from the Police Control Room to Benz Circle, the Government of Andhra Pradesh launched it as a Proof of Concept for the Smart City initiative. Cisco Systems supports the project and provides free Wi-Fi, intelligent street lighting, smart parking, and digital kiosks. The total cost of ₹7.83 crore was shared between Cisco, the Andhra Pradesh Urban Finance & Infrastructure Development Corporation, and the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation. The project enables real-time monitoring through the City Digital Platform at the municipal office. It includes 101 surveillance cameras, with some capable of calculating traffic density and providing live reports. Additionally, 35 Wi-Fi access points and 240 bright solar-powered lights were installed for public use. Parking sensors help reduce congestion, and motion sensors manage traffic and detect violations. The project also introduced Remote Expert Government Services, allowing citizens to communicate with officials via video calls.
Road Network
Vijayawada is located between two major highways, NH65 and NH16. These two major National Highways, NH-16 (Kolkata–Bhubaneshwar-Visakhapatnam-Vijayawada-Guntur-Nellore-Chennai) and NH-65 (Pune-Hyderabad-Suryapet-Vijayawada-Machilipatnam), provide road connectivity with other states and major cities. National Highway 30 from Jagdalpur of Chhattisgarh terminates near the city suburb of Ibrahimpatnam. The Inner Ring Road connects NH-16 and NH-65 to serve the primary purpose of easing traffic congestion.
The seamless commuting in the city is supported by the presence of 16 bridges across the three canals of Bandar, Eluru, and Ryves. M. G. Road, also called Bandar Road and Eluru Road, is a major arterial road of the city, with as many as 90,000 vehicles plying M. G. Road itself. The town has a total road length of 1,264.24 km used by 678,004 non-transport and 94,937 transport vehicles. Heavy vehicles like lorries are used for freight transport and hold a share of 18% in the country. Twenty-seven thousand two hundred ninety-six auto rickshaws plying the city roads daily, including the women-driven 'She Autos', serve short-distance commuting. The city has a total road length of 1,264.24 km, covering 1,230.00 km of municipal roads, 22.74 km of R&B (Roads & Buildings) department roads, and 11.50 km of National Highways. Benz Circle is one of the busiest road junctions in the city, with an average of 57,000 vehicles crossing daily. The junction has the intersection of two national highways, NH 16 and NH 65.
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