Visakha Express to be extended up to Paradip in Odisha?
V Kamalakara Rao,TNN | May 21, 2014, 05.56
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Railways, particularly at the headquarters of East Coast Railway (ECoR) in Bhubaneswar, over the extension of 17015/17016 Secunderabad-Bhubaneswar-Secunderabad Visakha Express up to Paradip in Odisha by changing the train into Secunderabad-Paradeep-Secunderabad Visakha Express.
According to highly placed sources, a section of people, including railway officials and railway users in parts of Odisha, have been lobbying hard with the railway authorities to extend the train.
"The train is likely to be extended to Paradip from July this year or a little later," said a source from the Secunderabad-based South Central Railway (SCR).
If the proposal becomes a reality, it would leave railway passengers from the city high and dry as it would reduce the quota of seats for travel to Secunderabad and Hyderabad from Vizag. "Even now local passengers are not able to get sufficient seats in the train. If it is extended to Paradip, it will become even more difficult for Vizag passengers to get seats as they will be monopolized by Odisha passengers," admitted a senior railway official at the reservation counter of Vizag railway station.
Separate Railway Zone Sadhana Samiti convener and active member of the city railway users' welfare association, JV Satyanarayana Murthy, said that though they were not aware of the proposal they would protest against any such move.
"The ECoR authorities have been giving passengers of Vizag and its surrounding areas the short shrift. Visakha Express was first launched in 1996 between Vizag and Secunderabad and after a couple of years was extended to Srikakulam Road, then to Palasa and later to Bhubaneswar. Now, if they extend it to Paradip it will be unfair on Vizag passengers," said Murthy.
A railway passenger from the city, P Malleswara Rao, alleged that the railway authorities in Odisha were able to ensure that the proposal goes through as they have proved with the extension of many trains such as Vijayawada-Visakha passenger into Vijayawada-Rayagada passenger via Vizag and Bangalore-Visakha Prasanthi Express as Bangalore-Bhubaneswar Express via Vizag.
When contacted, ECoR chief public relations officer at Bhubaneswar, JP Mishra admitted that though there was a proposal for extending Visakha Express to Paradip from Bhubaneswar, it was rejected by the authorities.
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