The largest city in Andhra Pradesh – Visakhapatnam – certainly deserves a better deal, and it’s high time that the railways provided better amenities to passengers at Visakhapatnam Railway Station and in trains to various destinations.
This was the general impression of the participants at a meeting organised by the Waltair Division of East Coast Railway (ECoR), as part of the Passenger Facilitation fortnight being observed by the Railways, here on Tuesday.
Issues highlighted
Improving the approach to the main entry of Visakhapatnam Railway Station, provision of some more Automated Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs), making the escalators work, increasing the number of platforms to prevent holding up of incoming trains at the outer signal, augmenting coaches as per the demand and improvement of cleanliness on the platforms and in trains were some of the issues raised by the participants.
Initiating the discussion, Dean of International Students Affairs of Andhra University B. Mohan Venkatram felt that the proposed Metro Rail corridor for Visakhapatnam should pass through the main railway station so that daily commuters and passengers arriving by various trains would have seamless connectivity to the far-flung areas of the city. He felt that the railway authorities should study the feasibility of constructing an underpass for direct access to the railway station and to avoid traffic bottlenecks.
Divisional Railway Manager Chandralekha Mukherjee announced that three more ATVM s would be installed at the railway station in a few days and measures would be initiated to make the escalators functional. Demand to start the Visakhapatnam–Secunderabad Duronto Express from platform 8 would also be considered.
Ms. Mukherjee said that the railways have come a long way from entering the names of passengers in registers to introduction of ‘Go India’ Smart cards, e-ticketing for physically challenged persons, battery-operated cars for senior citizens, SMS alerts to passengers and mobile ticketing.
