Two days after the ghastly train accident near the Bahanaga railway station in Odisha, there is no clarity on the number of passengers from Andhra Pradesh travelling by the ill-fated trains.
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The Andhra Pradesh government and the people’s representatives are in the dark over the number of passengers injured or missing in the accident.
Officials of the South Central Railway (SCR) and the East Coast Railway (ECoR) are tight-lipped over the total number of passengers from Andhra Pradesh travelling by the two trains — Coromandel Express (No. 12841) and Yesvantpur – Howrah Express (No. 12864), and other such details.
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The Shalimar-Chennai Central and the Yesvantpur–Howrah routes are the busiest. Due to summer holidays, many trains on these routes are running to capacity. Thousands of people, particularly traders and migrant workers, travel on these routes daily.
While the railway officials say that only “a few passengers” travelled by the two trains, the people’s representatives have put the figure at 695, and claim that the whereabouts of 28 are not yet known.
The railway officials say that there were only 68 passengers bound for Vijayawada and other stations travelling by the Coromandel Express.
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Passengers enquiring about trains at a help desk set up at the railway station in Vijayawada on Sunday. | Photo Credit: G.N. RAO
“A majority of the passengers bound for Vijayawada are safe,” says Vijayawada Divisional Railway Manager Shivendra Mohan.
Details of the passengers who boarded the trains for Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Renigunta, Gudur, Nellore and other places have not been released by the officials of the Visakhapatnam and Guntakal divisions.
The officials say they have identified the reserved passengers and contacted them over phone.
“Many passengers have answered our phone call. About 12, including three from Rajahmundry and a few from Vijayawada, are not responding,” says Senior Divisional Commercial Manager V. Rambabu.
“We have not conducted any meeting with the railway officials to review the number passengers from Andhra Pradesh who are either injured or missing,” says a government official.