RailEnquiry

Peak time or non-peak time, those planning to board a train to go to coastal Andhra during weekends have to face the music. Come Friday and Saturday, trains going towards Vijayawada, Vishakhapatnam and other towns in this sector are packed to capacity.There are a total of 16 daily trains and one bi-weekly train operating from the city towards Vijayawada and an average of 3,350 passengers travel everyday in these trains. When it comes to peak times like Sankranti and Dasara festivals the number of passengers usually doubles.

Preferred time:In this sector, the trains that start late in the night usually have higher demand. “Trains like Machilipatnam Express and Narsapur Express have constant demand because they start late in the night and reach Vijayawada early in the morning. Passengers prefer these timings as they can finish their work in the city during day time without rush and can catch the train peacefully,” spokesperson of South Central Railway. said.Incidentally there are about four daily trains from the city between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. and they reach Vijayawada between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. and all these trains are usually on high demand and hence it is difficult to get reservations these trains.Despite being aware of the demand during weekends, especially late in the evenings, authorities have failed to introduce more trains. Introduction of new trains is the prerogative of Railway Ministry and the announcement is made during annual Railway Budget, the officials explained.

Extra coaches

“To cater to the growing demands, SCR is already stretching its resources to the maximum possible extent. We are already plying 70 extra coaches on a permanent basis in various trains permanently.

To tackle current Sankranti rush we have employed about 183 extra coaches in various trains and have operated about 100 special trains from January 1 to January 18,” he said.

A train can usually have a maximum of 24 coaches and most important trains are already running to the full capacity, he pointed out. “SCR has been a beneficiary in the last two fiscal years as a total of 51 new trains have been introduced that either go through it or originate here,” he added.

With the opening of four-lane express way between Hyderabad and Vijayawada the travel time on road being reduced considerably, the pressure on railways has come down, he observed.

NEMMANI SREEDHAR