Orvakal Industrial Smart City (Orvakal IMC / Kurnool Industrial City): Connectivity

Air connectivity

Orvakal is home to the Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy Airport, which began operations on 25 March 2021 and currently offers flights to Bengaluru, Chennai, and Visakhapatnam. The airport sits along NH-40 roughly 18 km northeast of Kurnool city centre, and is also known as Orvakal Airport or Kurnool Airport.

Inaugurated in 2021, the airport is expected to enhance industrial cargo transport and investor linkages, particularly for cargo transportation and the food-processing industry. As of 2025, Kurnool lacks a metro system, and no specialised airport bus or ride-sharing apps with dedicated airport routes have been established. Public transport to the airport primarily relies on bus services, and APSRTC provides routes from Kurnool Bus Station to Orvakal, with approximately five daily services covering the roughly 40-minute journey.

Highways and expressways

The Orvakal site has access to NH40, NH44 and the Kurnool Bypass, giving it road connectivity from the industrial node itself. The mega industrial hub is also connected via SH 31 and SH 30, apart from major district roads. A four-lane section of NH40 (formerly NH18) passes through Orvakal, providing road connectivity to Kurnool, Nandyal, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Tirupati, and Chennai.

The node is well-positioned on NH40, linking it to Hyderabad (215 km) and Bengaluru (360 km).

Two large regional expressway projects run through or near Kurnool district but do not yet directly serve the node:

• Bengaluru–Vijayawada Expressway (NH-544G): an under-construction 518 km-long, six-lane access-controlled expressway between Bengaluru and Vijayawada, via Kadapa. It passes through Guntur, Prakasam, Kurnool and Kadapa districts before entering Karnataka. It is expected to be completed by 2026/27.
• Nagpur–Hyderabad–Bengaluru Expressway: a proposed greenfield, access-controlled expressway spanning approximately 1,100 km connecting Nagpur to Bengaluru via Hyderabad, traversing parts of Andhra Pradesh. It would traverse Kurnool and Anantapur districts. Detailed project report reviews as of October 2025 propose alignments in the northern Telangana section, indicating the project remains in DPR stage.

Rail and freight corridor links

The nearest railway station to Orvakal is Kurnool City railway station. A separate environmental filing places Dupadu Railway Station 15.3 km west and Kurnool Railway Station 20.7 km northwest of the industrial site.

A broad-gauge railway line links Hyderabad and Bengaluru via Anantapur and runs alongside NH-44 in a north-south direction, and another line connecting Hubballi-Dharwad in Karnataka to Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh runs east-west in close proximity to the southern portion of the node.

A dedicated new line is planned but not yet built: Indian Railways has put forth a proposal for a line connecting Dupadu on the Kurnool-Dhone line and Bethamcherla on the Nandyal-Dhone line, aiming to eliminate the need to pass through Dhone station and avoid locomotive-change delays. Officials say the benefit for Orvakal would be streamlined goods transportation from the region, since a convenient transport system is crucial for moving goods and equipment as the industrial hub develops. As of the November 2023 report, railway officials were still working on completing the final location survey for the new line, a necessary step before construction can be planned.

Separately, the Andhra Pradesh government has proposed a railway siding track for the Orvakal cluster, and a district land-acquisition notice references an APIIC project of laying a railway siding at Sanjamala village, Sanjamala mandal, in Kurnool district's Nandyal division. Both the new line and the siding remain at the planning/land-acquisition stage; no commissioning date has been confirmed.

Orvakal does not sit on a dedicated freight corridor (DFC) in the Eastern/Western DFC sense. Instead it is part of the Hyderabad-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (HBIC), which aims to integrate manufacturing clusters between Hyderabad and Bengaluru and also serves as a link between the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC) and the Vishakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC).

In the 2024 Union Budget, the government committed that funds would be provided for essential infrastructure such as water, power, railways, and roads in the Orvakal node on the Hyderabad-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor, under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act commitments.

Metro and RRTS

There is no metro rail or Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) proposal for Kurnool or Orvakal identified as of mid-2026. Kurnool lacks a metro system, and no specialised airport bus or ride-sharing apps with dedicated airport routes have been established as of 2025. Local movement around the airport and industrial node relies on APSRTC buses, taxis and app-based cabs.

Port access

Kurnool Airport is nearby, and Krishnapatnam Port is 320 km east of the Orvakal site. The industrial node also benefits from access to Krishnapatnam Port and major freight corridors, improving export and supply-chain connectivity for manufacturers. There is no port within the Orvakal node itself; Krishnapatnam remains the nearest operational deep-water port for containerised exports from the region.

Internal road network of the node

The proposed Mega Industrial Hub at Orvakal village is spread across three distinct land parcels located off NH-40, which connects Hyderabad to Chennai via Kurnool, Nandyal, Kadapa and Tirupati. Planning documents describe a larger concept too: an approximately 9,800-acre Mega Industrial Hub spread across 11 villages and 8 distinct land parcels, also located off NH-40. A 2024 report on ground-level progress noted the hub was initiated in March 2021, initially covering around 4,800 acres and later extended to 10,000 acres, near Orvakal, Uppalapadu, Guttapadu, Meedivemula, and North Konthalapadu villages.

Progress on internal works has been slow. As of July 2024, planned MSME support within the hub — 198 plots across 43.9 acres — had not materialised; around 50 plots had been allotted but construction had not commenced due to inadequate infrastructure. Road connectivity within the area is facilitated by national highways and important district roads, and the district administration has carried out field-level inspections, including plans to supply water from the Muchumarri project to the site.

More recent industry commentary (2026) suggests work has since picked up: large-scale infrastructure work is underway around the Orvakal industrial zone, including roads, utilities, logistics parks, industrial services, and transport connectivity upgrades.