Rail Vihar, Guntur

Rail Vihar is the newly built settlement of South Central Railway, Guntur Division on the outskirts of Guntur City in Andhra Pradesh, India. This fifty-five acre abandoned barren granite quarry was developed by Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Guntur division during 2008-09 and inaugurated on 25th. February,2009. It has a beautiful lake surrounded by neat path ways and garden, a small wooden bridge to cross the channel where you can see variety of birds,ducks and fish. A beautiful piece of architecture, “The Rock Villa” the official residence of DRM Guntur is located here on a hill-top, besides sprawling officers’ bungalows. Large greenery and plantation undertaken by the railways attracts a lot of morning and evening walkers. This settlement is a typical example of ecological conservation effort which can be undertaken by the government and large multinationals for preservation of bio-diversity which are being destroyed by men. The design, concept, landscaping and execution of this project surrounded by three hills was undertaken by M.Akhtar a civil servant, the who worked as DRM, Guntur Division between 2007–2009

This inhospitable piece of land between two tracks which was an abandoned granite quarry was given to the railway by the state government to develop its colony for the proposed Guntur division in 1999. This piece of land, as existed before 26 April 2008 can be seen in the photograph. The location was about 3 km away from city without any human habitation in the vicinity. Thus the railwaymen were reluctant to come to this place to establish a colony.