“I was forced to make a transit halt at Hyderabad for about 12 hours to travel to Bengaluru from Visakhapatnam on May 7. Though I had planned the trip more than three weeks ahead, there was no accommodation on the direct trains. The only convenient option was to take the Vizag-Secunderabad Garib Rath and from Secunderabad to Bengaluru by the Yesvantapur Garib Rath,” says B. Nithyasri of Visakhapatnam, who travelled along with her family on a holiday.
The major issue in the Vizag-Secunderabad Garib Rath was that the water in the toilets ran low quite early in the night. “The G-14, which was the second last coach, on the Yesvanatapur Garib Rath also seemed to be neat and clean but children screamed on seeing a bandicoot, criss-crossing the floor from under the berth, and refused to sleep in the lower berths,” the passenger noted. “A mother was relaxing on the lower berth along with her five-month-old baby at that time shifted to the side upper berth out of fear. We hope rat biting incidents would not occur on trains,” she said.
I had travelled by 02877 Visakhapatnam – Krishnarajapuram Suvidha Special on May 6. The train started at 5:30 a.m. from Vizag but many people brought general tickets to Rajahmundry/Bezawada/Ongole and Renigunta and boarded the train as majority of the seats were empty, a regular traveller Ravi Kishore of Visakhapatnam wrote.
I wondered as to why anyone would spend Rs. 1,000 (dynamic fare) when they could spend a mere Rs.300 and enjoy the same benefit. Who would waste such huge amount and travel the whole day in this train rather take a bus?
I feel this train needs to be converted into a daytime Inter City Express (ICE) as it perfectly suits that purpose. It will also reduce the load on Janmabhoomi (12805) as people going to Rajahmundry/Bezawada prefer this one.
Similarly, there is huge demand for ICE from Bezawada/Guntur to Tirupati (as 17406 Adilabad - Tirupathi Krishna Express is overcrowded) and this can meet that need also. Also there are many people from Tirupati/Renigunta working in Bengaluru and again this train can act as an inter city express for them too and help them reach Bengaluru by night.
Also the authorities (SWR and E Co R) have to explain as to who will board a train that departs at 1 a.m. from its originating station Krishnarajapuram, which is far. The train needs to be re-scheduled to start at 5 a.m. in Bengaluru for the benefit of Tirupati-bound (for Balaji Darshan) and from there again its serves as intercity for people going to Bezawada/Rajahmundry as there is huge demand for Tirupati-Visakhapatnam ICE for a long time.
Reporting by B. Madhu Gopal
