Will direct trains to Varanasi, Bengaluru from Visakhapatnam get the green signal during PM’s visit?

Running of the two trains has been a long-pending demand of rail users from the region; Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy and Rajya Sabha member G.V.L. Narasimha Rao bring the issue to the notice of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

Will the long-pending demand for a direct train to Varanasi and Bengaluru from Visakhapatnam materialise during the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the city? Rail users are optimistic that the Prime Minister will flag off these trains as he did during his recent visit to Gujarat.

The absence of a direct train is forcing passengers to change two or three trains to reach Varanasi, the spiritual capital of India. The demand for introduction of a direct train has been pending for more than a decade.

A few days ago, Rajya Sabha member G.V.L. Narasimha Rao wrote to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on the issue.

The East Coast Railway’s proposal for running the bi-weekly Varanasi express from Visakhapatnam by extending the existing 18511/18312 Sambalpur-Varanasi-Sambalpur express was accepted by all the zonal authorities concerned, and by the Railway Board at the Indian Railway Time Table Committee (IRTTC) meeting held in Kolkata in 2017.

However, five years after the acceptance of the proposal, the train is yet to get on track. Rail users regret that ECoR had failed to implement the proposal. Mr. Narasimha Rao noted that as Visakhapatnam Railway Zone (South Coast Railway Zone) is yet to become a reality and Waltair Division continues to be a part of ECoR, headquartered in Bhubaneswar, there is a strong feeling among the people of Visakhapatnam region that their railway needs have been given a short shrift.

There is no indication of running of the Varanasi express at the recent Parliamentary Committee meeting held in Visakhapatnam. The proposal is being raised year after year and is subsequently being put in cold storage, says a rail user.

Rail users from the region are also demanding introduction of a regular bi-weekly express to Bengaluru. The train should have a dedicated rake and one trip should start from Bengaluru on Friday evenings for the convenience of software professionals returning to Vizag to spend the weekends. The same rake can return on Sunday evening to reach Bengaluru on Monday morning.