Rail users of Duvvada fret and fume over non-functioning lift

Duvvada lift, commissioned on Platform 4 of Duvvada Railway Station, has malfunctioned, causing inconvenience to rail users. Doors open/close on own, trapping passengers. After trial runs, load test & safety clearance, lift has not worked properly for 15 days. Passengers missing trains due to lack of display boards. Lift joy short-lived, forcing passengers to carry luggage up/down FOB. Issue brought to notice of Senior Divisional Electrical Engineer, who assured repair at earliest.

A lift, which was commissioned on Platform 4 of Duvvada Railway Station on May 25 this year, has already started malfunctioning, causing inconvenience to rail users. The lift doors are opening and closing on their own, and on quite a few occasions, passengers were getting trapped in the lift, it is learnt.

The lift was commissioned after trial runs, conduct of load test capacity with 20 passengers, and after obtaining of a safety clearance from the East Coast Railway (ECoR) authorities in Bhubaneswar. However, it has not been working properly for the past 15 days, says K. Eswar, secretary of Duvvada Railway Users’ Association.

“Passengers are getting stuck in the lift. The doors are being opened manually by the authorities concerned after being called over phone. Due to non-availability of ‘display boards’, passengers are using the lift and are sometimes missing their trains that are on Platform 1 after getting stuck in the lift,” says Mr. Eswar.

Duvvada, which is located about 25 km by road from Visakhapatnam Junction, is in the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) limits. It is convenient for the thousands of people from the industrial areas like Ukkunagaram, NTPC, Visakhapatnam Special Economic Zone (VSEZ), BHEL and residential areas of Aganampudi, Gajuwaka, Kurmannapalem and surrounding areas.

“The joy of rail users of Duvvada, when the lift was commissioned after repeated representations over the last four to five years, was short-lived as it started malfunctioning in less than two months after being commissioned.

In the absence of local trains, the passengers alighting at Visakhapatnam Junction have to opt for public transport or personal vehicles to travel all the way to Duvvada,” says Mr. Eswar.

“Once again passengers, including physically challenged persons, patients and women with children, are forced to carry their luggage up and down the Foot Over Bridge (FOB) to reach from PF-1 to PF-4 or vice versa,” he says.