SCR: rail route to Visakhapatnam restored

It is estimated that SCR incurred a revenue loss of around Rs.15.6 crore during the last three days i.e,. from October 11 to 13. The authorities said commodities like imported coal, fertilizers, lime stone, cement and laterite could not be loaded due to inclement weather and disruption of rail services.

The track restoration works undertaken by South Central Railway on a massive scale between Elamanchili-Narsingapalli-Bayyavaram stations in Visakhapatnam District on Vijayawada Division. Photo: By Arrangement

After cancelling and diverting a few trains since Saturday, the South Central Railway (SCR) has announced resumption of operations on the route to Visakhapatnam on Vijayawada-Rajahmundry-Visakhapatnam Section from Tuesday afternoon.

The track on the down line towards Visakhapatnam was opened for operations, and trains will be operated through this single line. SCR authorities said train No. 18520 (Lokamanya Tilak Terminus – Visakhapatnam Express) smoothly passed through the restored line at 3.45 p.m on Tuesday.

The authorities said that works on restoring the second line i.e., up line had been taken up on a war-footing, and that services were likely to be resumed on Wednesday.

Breaches occurred at several locations on the track between Elamanchili -Narsingapalli- Bayyavaram stations on this route owing to heavy rains. SCR General Manager P.K.Srivastava has been camping at the work spots since Monday and closely monitoring the progress.

Meanwhile, it is estimated that the SCR has incurred a revenue loss of around Rs. 15.6 crore during the last three days i.e., from October 11 to 13. It suffered a ridership loss of 5.6 lakh, including 5.04 lakh unreserved passengers and 54,000 reserved passengers in the last three days. This will result in a total loss of Rs. 4.6 crore passenger earnings, including Rs.1.4 crore from unreserved segment and Rs. 3.2 crore from the reserved passenger segment.

Freight operations hit

Owing to dislocation of train services, freight operations, too, suffered from October 11 to 13 During these days, goods loading activity was adversely impacted at various freight terminals such as Kakinada Port, Ravikampadu, Regupalem, Jaggayyapet and Karepalli.

The authorities said commodities like imported coal, fertilizers, lime stone, cement and laterite could not be loaded due to inclement weather and disruption of rail services. It resulted in a loss of loading to the extent of 33 rakes with 1.22 lakh tonnes of freight. The revenue losses incurred in freight segment amounted to around Rs. 11 crore in the last three days, they informed.