Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Plight of rail users in Vizag highlighted

HYDERABAD: State president of the Bharatiya Janata Party Bandaru Dattatreya on Saturday sought the attention of Union Minister for Railways Laluprasad to the problems faced by rail users in Visakhapatnam.

In a letter to the Union Minister, he sought new reservation counters at Madhurawada, Simhachalam and Bhimli, air-conditioning of the reservation complex and an escalator to make it easier for senior citizens, the sick and the infirm, pregnant women and the physically-challenged to climb over-bridges.

Other demands include termination of Visakha, Prashanti and Chennai Central expresses at Visakhapatnam station, increase in frequency of the now bi-weekly express to Nizamabad, new Garib Rath services to Chennai and Secunderabad, merging of Visakhapatnam station with South Central Railway and dropping of the proposal to extend Godavari Express to Bhubaneswar.

Mr. Dattatreya also referred to the difficulties caused to passengers because of long-distance trains like Patna-Cochin, Howrah-Cochin and Yeshwanthpur were by-passing Visakhapatnam and being diverted through Duvvada junction, a station that lacked even minimum facilities.

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