Notwithstanding its high traffic potential, Visakhapatnam is likely to lose the golden opportunity of operating the first double-decker train in East Coast Railway (ECoR) for the second time, reportedly due to the reluctance of the ECoR headquarters.
The South Central Railway, which is operating two AC double-decker trains between Guntur and Kacheguda and Kacheguda and Tirupati, is suspending the service from May-end owing to poor patronage.
The SCR is willing to give the rake to either the Southern Railway (SR) or the East Coast Railway to run as Visakhapatnam – Chennai tri-weekly via Vijayawada, in view of the high demand on this route.
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The SR has declined to maintain the double-decker coaches at Chennai as it is already operating a daily double-decker service from Chennai to Bengaluru, and these coaches have to be maintained in Chennai. The ECoR headquarters is reluctant to take up the maintenance of double-decker coaches in Visakhapatnam under the pretext of lack of facilities.
However, sources in the East Coast Railway Shramik Congress have asserted that the Visakhapatnam Coaching Complex is fully equipped to handle double-decker rakes.
In view of an average occupancy of 20 per cent, the SCR was forced to operate only two of the 10 double-decker coaches on the Train No. 22118/17 Kacheguda – Guntur AC bi-weekly express and Train No. 22120/19 Kacheguda – Tirupati bi-weekly express. The other eight coaches in the train formation remained locked.
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Earlier, the SCR had planned to run a double-decker train between Secunderabad and Visakhapatnam, as the other day train on this route — Janmabhoomi Express — is full throughout the year. The ECoR headquarters did not allow it saying that it did not have the facility to maintain the double-decker coaches, representatives of the union recalled.