The popular weekly special 18567 Visakhapatnam – Kollam Express, which is being run as a special train for nearly three years now, has been overbooked for the forthcoming Sabarimala season.
This express, said to be the most punctual train in this sector, with an average delay of 15 minutes, takes 30 hours 20 minutes travel time with an average speed of 51 km/hr. On the other hand, bi-weekly Visakhapatnam – Kollam Suvidha Special, being run by East Coast Railway, takes 28 hours 45 minutes to cover the same distance at an average speed of 54 km/hr.
Suvidha special trains have dynamic fare, and depending on the demand, even Sleeper class fare on these trains is more than 3rd AC fare and many a time AC fare is more than flight fares.
It may be recalled that the Yesvantapur – Visakhapatnam Tatkal special train, introduced by the South Western Railway, was converted into a Suvidha Special in the return direction much to the chagrin of passengers.
06579 Yesvantpur – Visakhapatnam Tatkal takes 20 hours while 82664 Visakhapatnam – Yesvantpur takes 19 hours 20 minutes, a difference of 40 minutes but the difference in fare thrice.
Here is good news for airline passengers planning to carry additional baggage over and above the free baggage allowance. IndiGo airlines will charge a lumpsum amount of Rs.1,500 to carry up to 30 kg over and above the normally allowed 15 kg, provided the passengers book their tickets in advance and indicate their plan to carry additional baggage.
A man, who had to travel from Vijayawada to Vizag at short notice went to the RTC Bus Station in Vijayawada and saw a good crowd at the counters for the buses going towards Vizag.
“It was around midnight on Saturday. After finding the rush at the counters, I walked towards the platforms, and to my astonishment, I found a Vizag-bound ‘Amaravathi Scania AC bus’ coming from somewhere, was quite empty. I asked the driver and he said there were a number of seats,” said Raju of Vijayawada. “The bus left Vijayawada at 12 midnight and reached Vizag by 7 a.m. on Sunday. The journey was quite comfortable but the blanket seemed to have not been washed as there was a stinking smell,” he said.
(Reporting By B. Madhu Gopal)
