The frequent cancellation of trains, on some pretext or the other, is not only inconveniencing rail users but also making a huge dent in the revenue of the railways.
Popular trains originating in Visakhapatnam, like Janmabhoomi, Ratnachal, and Double Decker express, have been cancelled since May 2023.
RTI by Duvvada Railway User’s Association
An analogy of the cancellation of trains made by the East Coast Railway (ECoR) and the South Central Railway (SCR), based on data obtained under the RTI Act by Kanchumurthy Eswar, Duvvada Railway Users’ Association, shows that SCR has cancelled these trains and some others originating/terminating in Visakhapatnam, for the maximum number of times between May 1 and December 17, 2023.
Train no. 17219/20: Machilipatnam-Visakhapatnam-Machilipatnam, was cancelled 13 times (both sides) by the ECoR and 169 times by SCR; Train no: 17267/68: Kakinada-Visakhapatnam-Kakinada and 22708/07: Tirupati-Visakhapatnam-Tirupati Double Decker was cancelled twice by the ECoR and 34 times by SCR.
Similarly, Train no. 12740/39: Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam-Secunderabad Garib Rath was cancelled 271 times by the SCR and Train no. 12805/06: Visakhapatnam-Lingampalli-Visakhapatnam Janmabhoomi express was cancelled 44 times by the SCR.
While the EcoR cancelled the Guntur-Visakahaptnam-Guntur Simhadri express (Train. no: 17239/40) twice, the SCR cancelled it as many as 284 times. Train no. 22701/02: Visakhapatnam-Vijayawada-Visakhapatnam Double Decker Uday Express was cancelled twice by the ECoR and 264 times by the SCR.
While no one can find fault with the cancellation of a few trains for safety and infrastructure development works, the continuous cancellation by SCR is beyond the comprehension of rail users. Further, the frequent cancellation of highly patronised trains during the festival and peak tourist season also draws flak from the rail users.
Kakinada MP Vanga Geetha had drawn the attention of the SCR authorities concerned, in October this year, to the hardships being faced by passengers travelling between Visakhapatnam and Guntur, due to the cancellation of the Simhadri Express and sought restoration of the train.
Appeal to Railway Minister
More recently, BJP Rajya Sabha Member G.V..L Narasimha Rao appealed to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw during the latter’s visit to Simhachalam Railway Station on Decemeber 9, seeking special trains from Visakhapatnam to Hyderabad, Tirupati, Chennai and Bengaluru to meet the Sankranthi rush.
Mr. Vaishnaw directed the General Managers of ECoR and SCR to take an early decision and operate special trains to meet the festival rush. The officials concerned seem to have forgotten the assurance given by the Railway Minister from a public platform and do not seem to be keen on the restoration of the existing trains.
The total loss to SCR and ECoR due to the cancellation of Double Decker, Garib Rath, Simhadri, Ratnachal, Janmabhoomi and Uday Express trains between May 1 to November 30, 2023, is running into crores of rupees, according to information obtained by Mr. Eswar under the RTI Act.
