Even as the Dasara holiday season has begun, the railways authorities have neither announced any special trains from Visakhapatnam junction nor augmented extra coaches to the existing services, much to the disappointment of the passengers.
Almost all the train services originating from Visakhapatnam have huge waiting lists and people eager to travel to their home towns for the festival are finding it hard to manage a ticket.
Train no. 12805 Visakhapatnam – Secunderabad Janmabhoomi Express services scheduled on October 18, 19 and 20 have waiting list in excess of 200, show ‘regret’ for the train scheduled for October 21. The train has a waiting list of 163 for October 22 for second class sitting, while same for chair cars are 45, 71, 93, ‘regret’ and 56.
The situation for train no. 12739 Visakhapatnam – Secunderabad Garib Rath is no different. It has a waiting list of 104 for October 18 and in excess of 250 for the services scheduled for October 19, 20, 21. The 3-tier AC chair car has a waiting list of 245 on October 22.
Train no. 17488 Visakhapatnam – Tirupati Tirumala Express, 18519 Visakhapatnam – LTT (Mumbai) Express and most other trains are running to their full capacities.
“The railways authorities have not announced a single special train from Visakhapatnam for Dasara and adding to it, the MEMU Specials announced between Rajahmundry-Vizianagaram, Vizianagaram-Vijayawada will not touch Visakhapatnam Junction,” lament the rail users.
Re-routing of trains
“How can the railways ignore a major junction (Visakhapatnam) which has a footfall of 70,000 daily?,” they ask.
Meanwhile, N. Gajapathi Rao, who has been appointed a member of the Zonal Railway Users’ Consultative Committee (ZRUCC) of East Coast Railway (ECoR) recently has written to the authorities seeking re-routing of all the diverted trains, through Visakhapatnam Junction.
“The rush during Dasara can well be imagined. Further, there are no local train services from Duvvada or Simhachalam. The railways authorities can at least utilise the rake of the passenger trains cancelled on the Naupada – Gunupur line due to damage of track by cyclone ‘Titli’ to operate special trains to Rajahmundry and Vijayawada,” opines a passenger.
RTC plying 500 buses
The Visakhaptnam Region unit of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) is operating ‘Dasara specials’ on long distance routes to Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai are getting good response in view of the lack of accommodation on trains.
Special buses are also being operated to Amalapuram, Narsapur, Bhimavaram and various places in Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts, according to Regional Manager G. Sudesh Kumar.
The RTC Visakhapatnam Region operated 416 special buses for Dasara last year. This year the plan is to operate 500 special services, in addition to the regular services, both on the long distance and buses to nearby districts, he said.
“Normal fare is being charged on our regular services but on long distance services. We are charging one-and-a-half times the normal fare as there will not be much demand in one way journeys,” Deputy Chief Traffic Manager (rural) Kanithi Venkata Rao said.
One can log on to www.apsrtconline.in for reservation or contact the authorised ticketing agents of RTC for more details.