Antyodaya Express: The best a common man can get. - Vikas Kumar

Kotipalli-Narsapur was planned quite a while after independence. At that time, the BVRM-BZA gauge conversion was sanctioned.

The government was not showing much interest in reopening the Kakinada-Kotipalli line, which was dismantled in 1942 during the war. And there were growing demands to have Kakinada on the main line by constructing a line to Pithapuram.

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make these demands more appealing to the government, the then leaders from AP, proposed that there be a rail connection between Kotipalli and Palakollu, so that there would be a parallel route to BZA from Pithapuram via COA, Kotipalli, Palakollu, BVRM.

In the British era, there were no plans for extending the line to Narsapur, as it required a bridge over the river. At the time, the railway authorities operated diesel rail buses between Kakinada and Narsapur to provide direct connectivity between the 2 places.