Plea to extend express train to capital

KORAPUT: Several activists have appealed to the railways to extend the Jagdalpur-Visakhapatnam Express up to Bhubaneswar for the benefit of Jeypore residents.
Currently, there is only one train that operates between Jagdalpur and Bhubaneswar via Jeypore, and it is often overcrowded, said Jeypore Jana Kalyan Manch , a civil society group. The group submitted a memorandum to divisional railway manager (Visakhapatnam) Anup Satpathy claiming that the extension of Jagdalpur-Visakhapatnam Express up to Bhubaneswar would be beneficial for the locals. People from the region travel to the state capital daily for various purposes, and the existing Hirakhand Express is insufficient to meet the demand, the memorandum read.
Presently, the Jagdalpur-Visakhapatnam express reaches Visakhapatnam at 3 am and remains stationed there for 18 hours before departing for Jagdalpur at 10 pm. “If the train is extended to Bhubaneswar, it would take around six hours to reach the capital and another six hours to return. Extension would not only increase revenue but also benefit passengers,” said Rajendra Gouda, an activist.