The Visakhapatnam-Araku passenger special (No. 08511) was an overwhelming success on January 9 and 10. Tourists appreciated the gesture of the Railways for making repeated announcements on the public address systems about the Araku special unlike during the previous weekend.
The Railways went all out to promote the special train.
The result — those who failed to get a seat on train No. 58501 Visakhapatnam – Kirandul passenger made good use of the Araku special. While on January 9, the train No. 58501 (Visakhapatnam-Kirandul) and the train No. 08511 Visakhapatnam-Araku special were placed on adjacent platforms, it could not be done the next day as there was another train on the adjacent platform. The empty rake was kept on a loop line at the railway station and some of the impatient tourists crossed over the track and gained entry into some of the coaches that were already open.
As the rake of the Araku special was being shunted on to the platform later, hundreds of passengers rushed towards the doors of the coaches but many of them were locked and some hung on to the doors in a bid to get seats.
The Araku special was a runaway success.
Meanwhile, the festival rush on the train No. 58501 is continuing with the seats in all three classes (second sitting, second sleeper, and first class) fully booked till the month-end, except on January 20 and 29.
There is also a heavy demand for a local passenger special to Annavaram and Kakinada, and passengers feel that instead of keeping the Araku special rake idle from Monday to Friday, it could be utilised to run the Annavaram special in view of the high demand.
IndiGo has launched its second daily non-stop flight between Visakhapatnam and Bengaluru from January 7.
Flight No. 6 E 288 will take off from Bengaluru at 5.45 a.m. and arrives in Visakhapatnam at 7.15 a.m.
In the return direction, 6 E 287 will take off from Visakhapatnam at 7.45 a.m. and reach Bengaluru at 9.20 a.m. The inaugural special fares from Visakhapatnam to Bengaluru has been fixed at Rs.1,743. From Bengaluru to Visakhapatnam, the fare is Rs.1,855.
In contrast, S. Prabhakara Rao and S. Venkateswari Rani, both senior citizens, who travelled by train No. 08277 Visakhapatnam-Krishnarajapuram, which had been recently converted to a Suvidha Special with dynamic fare, had to shell out Rs.5,195 for travel by III-AC on January 6. Their tickets were booked on the Internet on January 4.
