The Hindu : More Vizag-based trains proposed: railway official

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 03, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

More Vizag-based trains proposed: railway official

By Our Special Correspondent

VISAKHAPATNAM, MARCH. 2. The trains originating from and terminating at Visakhapatnam Junction like the weekly Chennai Express and Tirumala Express will not be extended to any other city or town.

Holding out this promise at a media conference here on Tuesday to allay popular apprehensions on this score, the Divisional Railway Manager (Waltair) of the East Coast Railway, V.N. Tripathi, said: "In fact, we have proposed to increase the number of trains originating from Visakhapatnam to 22 from the existing 18. We have also suggested the increase in the frequency of the weekly Visakhapatnam-Chennai Express.''

On the proposal of tourism promoters to extend the Vizag-Kirandul Express to Jeypore and Jagdalpur, he said that at present the capacity in respect of rolling stock was limited and hence it was not feasible.

Mr. Tripathi, who is being shifted to Jabalpur as the Chief Operatrions Manager, introduced the incoming DRM, S.V. Arya, at the conference.

Asked about the restricted quota of berths on trains passing through Visakhapatnam, the outgoing DRM said efforts would continue to secure maximum benefits to passengers from the city.

He said that construction work on the Rs. 6.18-crore coaching complex at the now-vacated siding of Steel Authority of India Limited had begun and this would provide ample room for the expansion of operational facilities in the station.

The sixth platform of the station would be ready soon, he said and added that he had also proposed to widen the space between the second and the third platforms, if necessary, by knocking off the spare track between Platform No.2 and 3. The Rs. 1.30-crore foot-overbridge connecting all the platforms was in an advanced stage of construction. To provide more elbow room in the congested station, he felt that the existing reservation office should be shifted to some distance away from the station.

Mr. Tripathi said Waltair continued to be a top revenue-earning division, and that it had been the division's endeavour to provide maximum amenities to rail users.

Its total earnings during the first 10 months of the current fiscal stood at Rs.1,249.90 crores, against Rs.1,183.20 crores in the corresponding period of 2002-03. The division established an all-time record freight loading of 25.30 million tonnes during April-January, registering a six per cent growth over the freight loaded in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal. He said it might fall marginally short of the revised target of 32.38 million tonnes, and close the fiscal with 31.25 million tonnes of freight.

In reply to a question on the impact of the Hy-Grade Pellets' slurry pipeline to transport iron ore from Bailadilla mines on the division's freight earnings, he said that the pipeline would carry only pellets made of fine ore, which the Railways was not transporting anyway. "We are transporting only ore lumps from Bailadilla.''

The division transported 14.4 million travellers during the last 10 months, against 13.6 million passengers in the previous year.

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