The demand to run the AP Express from Vijayawada to New Delhi via Visakhapatnam seems to be a voice in the wilderness. Notwithstanding the demand made by our elected representatives, the Indian Railway Time Table Committee, which met in Delhi recently, is said to have decided to run the train via Warangal, Nagpur, Bhopal, and Agra.
Though the South Central Railway (SCR) has proposed to run the train via Visakhapatnam, Raipur, Katni, and Jhansi, it has been rejected by the East Coast Railway (ECoR) on the plea of ‘path problems’ under its jurisdiction, according to reliable sources.
The AP Express will leave Vijayawada at 9 a.m. and reach Delhi at 2.20 p.m. the next day. Little changes in the timings will enable the train to start from Vizag, provided pressure is brought on the Railway Board before the time table is released by the Railways on September 1.Once that was done, people would have to wait for a whole year to get the train to Vizag.
In its present route, the AP Express would cross Andhra Pradesh in less than 20 km., after which it would travel in Telangana. “There is no point in calling it AP Express, when it hardly covers 20 km. in AP, ignoring the rest of the State,” Visakha North MLA P. Vishnu Kumar Raju said.
IRCTC meetThe IRCTC meet did not discuss the issue of bringing through trains, being diverted via Duvvada, to Visakhapatnam. This is despite the assurances given by of our elected representatives from time to time. Similarly, the demand for advancing the timing of the Visakhapatnam-Chennai weekly express so that it reaches Chennai before 8 a.m. is also being set aside by ECoR on the plea of non-availability of platforms.
