Festival special trains give Visakhapatnam a miss

Rail users in Visakhapatnam demand special trains for Deepavali, Sankranti; railway officials cite capacity constraints, engine reversal time. Railways urged to take early decision to avoid last-minute announcements.

The Dasara festival has concluded, Deepavali is fast approaching, and the Sankranti holiday season is not far away. Advanced Reservation Period (ARP) is now 120 days. But, where are the special trains from Visakhapatnam, the largest city in Andhra Pradesh, to various destinations like Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru?

Trains are the first choice of travellers in view of their comfort and economy. Air travel has become prohibitively expensive, more so during the festive season. It’s a different matter that flights from Visakhapatnam to various destinations are reporting good occupancy.

With barely two months to go for the Sankranti festival season, those intending to go on vacation are unable to plan their journeys as it’s a difficult proposition to find berths on the regular trains. Barring the special trains, which were introduced years ago, and should have been regularised by now, no new specials have been announced from Visakhapatnam junction, so far.

To add insult to injury, various railway zones, which used to operate special trains via Visakhapatnam junction, are running specials for Deepavali, bypassing the major station and operating their special trains via Duvvada and Vizianagaram. There are no connecting local trains from Duvvada and Vizianagaram to Visakhapatnam junction.

Special trains are meant for the convenience of the travelling public, and at the same time railways are also look into the commercial aspect. Ironically, in the case of Visakhapatnam, trains are being bypassed, ignoring the tremendous revenue potential.

“Visakhapatnam is a major junction and ignoring it is not the solution. There may be capacity constraints in Visakhapatnam and steps are needed to overcome them. Two new platforms will be constructed in the station redevelopment plan and additional lines have been sanctioned. I will take up the matter with the officials concerned,” BJP MP GVL Narasimha Rao, who is also a member of the Zonal Railway Users Consultative Committee (ZRUCC), told The Hindu on Monday.

It was seen in the past that bypassing trains were not getting full due to the hardships involved in travel to the city from Duvvada and Vizianagaram by road. It’s learnt that the railway officials concerned were maintaining that due to the need for engine reversal at Visakhapatnam junction, long distance trains were losing around 20 minutes time. The railway authorities had, however, said in response to an RTI query, that the 20 minutes time was being effectively utilised for watering, cleaning of coaches and supply of food.