The operation of the two trains has been a long pending demand of the rail users of the region; Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy and Rajya Sabha member GVL Narasimha Rao brought the issue to the notice of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav.
The operation of the two trains has been a long pending demand of the rail users of the region; Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy and Rajya Sabha member GVL Narasimha Rao brought the issue to the notice of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav.
Will the long pending demand of direct train from Visakhapatnam to Varanasi and Bengaluru be fulfilled during the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the city? Rail users are hopeful that the Prime Minister will flag off these trains, as he did during his recent visit to Gujarat.
Commuters are being forced to change two-three trains due to lack of direct train to reach Varanasi, the spiritual capital of India. The demand for starting a direct train has been pending for more than a decade.
A few days ago, Rajya Sabha member GVL Narasimha Rao wrote a letter to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav on this issue.
The East Coast Railway’s proposal to run the bi-weekly Varanasi Express from Visakhapatnam by extending the existing 18511/18312 Sambalpur-Varanasi-Sambalpur Express was accepted by the Railway Board in all concerned regional authorities and the Indian Railway Time Table Committee. IRTTC) meeting was held in Kolkata in 2017.
However, even after five years of accepting the proposal, the train is yet to be put on track. Rail users regret that ECoR failed to implement the proposal. Shri Narasimha Rao said that Visakhapatnam Railway Zone (South Coast Railway Zone) is yet to become a reality and Waltair Division continues to be part of ECoR, headquartered at Bhubaneswar, there is a strong feeling among the people of Visakhapatnam zone that their A small change has been given to the requirements of the Railways.
There is no indication of running of Varanasi Express in the Parliamentary Committee meeting held recently in Visakhapatnam. A Rail user says that this proposal is being taken up year after year and later it is being kept in cold storage.
Rail users of the region are also demanding the introduction of a regular bi-weekly express to Bengaluru. The train should have a dedicated rake and a journey should start from Bengaluru on Friday evening for the convenience of software professionals returning to Vizag to spend the weekend. The same rake can return on Sunday evening and reach Bengaluru on Monday morning.
Union Minister of Culture and Tourism and Development of North-Eastern Region G Kishan Reddy had written to his counterpart in Railways Ashwini Vaishnav in the past on the need to start a daily train from Visakhapatnam to Bengaluru via Vijayawada and Tirupati. He recalled that the Prashanti Express originating from Visakhapatnam was extended up to Bhubaneswar, resulting in reduction of its allotted reservation quota.
It has to be seen whether these long pending proposals get the green signal during the visit of the Prime Minister.