Ahead of Sankranti, a major harvest festival that brings together family and friends, Pandit Nehru Bus Station (PNBS), the main bus station in the city, and the railway station, are choking with people crowding the transit points to reach their home towns and join the celebrations.
A large chunk of the crowd comprised students staying in hostels heading for their home. The roads leading to both the PNBS and the railway station, witnessed youngsters scurrying with duffle bags, haversacks, travel trolleys and carry-on luggage. The main bus station, the fourth biggest and busiest bus station in the country, was chock-a-block with all benches and other seating places filled to their maximum capacity and the crowd spilling on to the parking bays.
Responding to the additional demand, the Vijayawada zone of the AP State Road Transport Corporation pressed 90 additional buses into service towards Rayalaseema region on Saturday.
Specials
“Based on the heavy demand, we operated 90 extra buses to Kadapa and Anantapur districts. The crowd is expected to further swell by Sunday. There is an increase in the influx from Hyderabad. People come to Vijayawada and from here, they head to different destinations. We may operate 300-400 extra buses on the main festival days,” said R. Nagaraju, APSRTC Executive Director, Vijayawada zone.
Meanwhile, South Central Railway claimed that 70 special trains were being operated to meet the festival rush. Of these, 30 special trains are operated on Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam sector, four special trains on Secunderabad-Kakinada sector, six special trains on Secunderabad-Machilipatnam sector, eight special trains on Secunderabad-Vijayawada sector, eight special trains on Visakhapatnam-Tirupati sector, 12 special trains on Guntur-Visakhapatnam sector and two Jan Sadha ran special trains on Tirupati-Narsapur sector.
Additional seats
Around 23,000 additional berths/seats have been made available to the public reservation system (PRS) for the period of January 2015. The waiting list position in various classes of express trains on popular routes is being closely monitored by senior officials daily and extra coaches are being attached to trains with long waitlist within the resources.
However, passengers have a different opinion. On one hand, RTC collects extra fare for travelling in special bus iges, and railways do not operate sufficient trains. With holidays beginning from Saturday, authorities should have planned more efficiently and catered to passengers requirements.
This is the case every year and the passengers, especially women and the elderly, are put to lot of inconvenience, says Raghunath, a passenger at railway station.
This huge rush is the case every year and passengers, especially women and the elderly, are put to lot of inconvenience
Raghunath
Ahead of Sankranti, a major harvest festival that brings together family and friends, Pandit Nehru Bus Station (PNBS), the main bus station in the city, and the railway station, are choking with people crowding the transit points to reach their home towns and join the celebrations.
A large chunk of the crowd comprised students staying in hostels heading for their home. The roads leading to both the PNBS and the railway station, witnessed youngsters scurrying with duffle bags, haversacks, travel trolleys and carry-on luggage. The main bus station, the fourth biggest and busiest bus station in the country, was chock-a-block with all benches and other seating places filled to their maximum capacity and the crowd spilling on to the parking bays.
Responding to the additional demand, the Vijayawada zone of the AP State Road Transport Corporation pressed 90 additional buses into service towards Rayalaseema region on Saturday.
Specials
“Based on the heavy demand, we operated 90 extra buses to Kadapa and Anantapur districts. The crowd is expected to further swell by Sunday. There is an increase in the influx from Hyderabad. People come to Vijayawada and from here, they head to different destinations. We may operate 300-400 extra buses on the main festival days,” said R. Nagaraju, APSRTC Executive Director, Vijayawada zone.
Meanwhile, South Central Railway claimed that 70 special trains were being operated to meet the festival rush. Of these, 30 special trains are operated on Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam sector, four special trains on Secunderabad-Kakinada sector, six special trains on Secunderabad-Machilipatnam sector, eight special trains on Secunderabad-Vijayawada sector, eight special trains on Visakhapatnam-Tirupati sector, 12 special trains on Guntur-Visakhapatnam sector and two Jan Sadha ran special trains on Tirupati-Narsapur sector.
Additional seats
Around 23,000 additional berths/seats have been made available to the public reservation system (PRS) for the period of January 2015. The waiting list position in various classes of express trains on popular routes is being closely monitored by senior officials daily and extra coaches are being attached to trains with long waitlist within the resources.
However, passengers have a different opinion. On one hand, RTC collects extra fare for travelling in special bus iges, and railways do not operate sufficient trains. With holidays beginning from Saturday, authorities should have planned more efficiently and catered to passengers requirements.
This is the case every year and the passengers, especially women and the elderly, are put to lot of inconvenience, says Raghunath, a passenger at railway station.
This huge rush is the case every year and passengers, especially women and the elderly, are put to lot of inconvenience
Raghunath
Passenger at railway station
The main bus station, the fourth biggest and busiest bus station in the country, was chock-a-block with all benches and other seating places filled to their maximum capacity and the crowd spilling on to the parking bays.
