The stock reply of the East Coast Railway (ECoR) when people from Visakhapatnam seek a direct train from Visakhapatnam to Bengaluru is that “there are adequate number of trains from Bhubaneswar and other parts of Odisha to Bengaluru, which pass through Visakhapatnam.
The ECoR authorities in Bhubaneswar conveniently forget the fact that these trains either arrive at Visakhapatnam at odd hours or one has to spend about 24 hours, wasting a greater part of the day, sitting through the journey.
The South Western Railway (SWR) had operated a Premium Super Fast Special from Bangalore to Visakhapatnam for two trips to clear the winter rush during December last year and it was a runaway success. Its success is attributed to the convenient timings as it left Bengaluru at 3.40 p.m. and arrived at 9.30 a.m. on the following day in Visakhapatnam.
It’s learnt that the SWR had again proposed to run two special trains from Bengaluru to Visakhapatnam to clear the Ugadi rush on the plea of thousands of Telugus living in Bengaluru. SWR, however, found that two ECoR trains —00852 Bengaluru Cantt – Bhubaneswar bi-weekly special and the 08302 Yesvantpur – Sambalpur weekly special – do not have adequate patronage. They are said to have dropped the idea as passengers from Visakhapatnam could use these trains.
“Train no. 08302 leaves Yesvantapur after midnight (12.30 a.m.) and reaches Visakhapatnam at 8.35 p.m. the same day and 00852 leaves Bengaluru at 1 a.m. (after midnight) and reaches Visakhapatnam at 6 p.m. the same day. Apart from the departure time being inconvenient, Visakhapatnam-bound passengers have to waste the whole day in the journey,” says M. Pradyumna of Bengaluru.
An express train via Chennai which leaves around 4 p.m. in Bengaluru and reaches Visakhapatnam around 10 a.m. the next morning would have tremendous demand as was proved in the past, he said.
“Train no. 00852 and no. 08302 run nearly empty between Visakhapatnam and Bhubaneswar and Sambalpur respectively. ECoR should run these trains via Raipur and Nagpur for better patronage and convenience of passengers from Odisha.
Instead the E Co R headquarters wants to compel passengers from Vizag to use these Odisha-bound specials despite the inconvenient timings and thereby get them regularised, says Sunny, an engineer from Vizag.
