Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Internet rail booking at more centres

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD DEC. 1. Secunderabad will soon be connected by rail to most State capitals of the country, announced Bandaru Dattatreya, BJP leader and Union Minister of State for Railways.

Listing the various measures taken to improve existing services and provide new ones, Mr. Dattatreya, while addressing a press conference at the State BJP office here on Sunday, said that online Internet ticket booking had already been introduced in Secunderabad along with select other metropolises of the country. This Internet reservation facility would be extended to 10 more cities, he added. Work was on to extend computerised passenger reservation facility to 11 more centres in the State and this would be completed by January 2003. He said, at present, this facility was being provided on an experimental basis in Chittoor, Srikalahasti and Yerraguntla.

Mr. Dattatreya deplored the attacks on railway property by naxalites and said these merely inconvenience people who depend on the transport provided by the Railways. He said some trains had been temporarily suspended on routes which had been attacked by the naxals and promised that these would be resumed at the earliest.

The Railway Ministry had already written to the State Government, seeking extra protection to railway property in sensitive areas. It was not possible for the Railway police to single-handedly protect the extensive railway property, specially the signalling equipment, he said.

Mr. Dattatreya announced that a new train — Sheshadri Express — had been started between Kakinada and Tirupati and the Tirumala Express between Vishakhapatnam and Tirupati would now be direct between these two cities. A new train between Chennai Egmore and Tirupati would be started by January 2003 and a train between Peddapalli and Vijayawada was slated to be inaugurated on December 7, he added.

The Union Minister also received a delegation of the City BJP, led by its president, Chintala Ramchandra Reddy, demanding extension of the Sabari Express from Ernakulam to Kottayam for the convenience of Ayyappa devotees.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Entertainment | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Internet rail booking at more centres
• AU campus colleges to reopen tomorrow
• AIDS education in school curriculum: CM
• AIDS spreading fast in Vizag
• Four new HC judges to assume office today
• Standoff between Naidu, brother intensifies

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu