The partial cancellation of 58501/58502 Visakhapatnam-Kirandul-Visakhapatnam Passenger between Visakhapatnam and Araku, due to falling of boulders, has come as a dampener to tourists during the peak season.
The train runs to full capacity till Araku almost all through the year and during the peak season, which starts after Dasara and extends up to January-end, it is overcrowded. About six months ago, a Vistadome coach was attached to this train and it was announced during the launch of the coach that the second coach would be provided in a couple of months but that did not happen.
Now, repair of the badly damaged pillar and constructing a new one could take a long time. “My assessment is that it could take at least three months for construction a new pier. The bridge takes the load of a 25 tonne train and one can imagine the size of the boulder, which fell on the pier, damaging it.
It was as though a large chunk of the mountain got detached and fell on it with full force,” Divisional Railway Manager Mukul Saran Mathur told The Hindu .
Non-supply of bed rolls on the 22415 AP AC Express Visakhapatnam – New Delhi and inaction of the officials concerned has irked passengers, says Yelamanchali Srihari Rao, treasurer of Duvvada Railway Users Association, who travelled along with his family from Duvvada to Vijayawada on Oct 4.
Mr. Srihari Rao asked the coach attendant on duty on the non-supply of the bed roll packet (2 bed sheets and a pillow cover) and when he did not get a satisfactory reply, he asked the TTE for complaint. The TTE said there was no complaint book.
He sent his PNR no. 6106445487 to the mobile no. 918121281212 but did not get any reply. He brought the issue to the notice of Duvvada Railway Users Association secretary K. Eswar and the latter Tweeted the same to the DRM seeking immediate action.
The DRM/Waltair referred the same to the Senior Divisional Electrical Engineer and the latter referred it to the Senior Divisional Electrical Engineer Coaching/Delhi and finally a reply was received from SRDEECHG/Delhi saying that the matter was ‘informed to the onboard staff to resolve your problem’.
After six hours, the passenger got down along with his family members at Vijayawada but no action was taken to supply the bedrolls till then, he says.
Other passengers including senior citizens, children and women suffered a lot.
B. Madhu Gopal
