Railways welcomes Parvatipuram station revamp

Visakhapatanam: Applauding Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy’s concept of having more districts with the purpose of decentralisation of administration, the railway authorities have agreed to develop the Parvathipuram Railway Station (PRS) set in the district headquarters of newly formed Manyam.

The railway authorities are hopeful the PRS may gain the attention of the railway ministry for development in the new context.

At present, the station caters to the needs of people in the bordering areas of north-west AP and south Odisha, with a deployment of 13 passenger trains. Some of these trains are the Bilaspur-Tirupati, the Kobra, the Samata Visakhapatnam-New Delhi, Hirakhand Bhubaneswar, the Ernakulam (Kerala) and the Gandhidham (Gujarat).

At present, the station has three platforms, which have a length of 650 meters to accommodate 22-coach trains.

Rice and vegetables are prime goods being transported through the station to various destinations including Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns.

As per the Railways’ technical parameters, PRS is categorised as non-suburban grade (NSG) 5. This means, the annual revenue generated is between Rs 1 crore and Rs 10 crore. The revenue generation is likely to be improved.

In 2017, the Railways had declared PRS as an Adarsh Station by facilitating dormitories, passenger rest rooms and coaching display boards among other passenger amenities. Since then, there have been significant changes in the station.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Waltair Railway divisional manager Anup Satpathy said, “The PRS will definitely see significant changes after formation of the new district with Parvatipuram as its headquarters. We request the people to come up with suggestions on passenger trains, amenities at the station etc.”

The services at PRS were started in the 1930s. The first 79-km railway line, the Vizianagaram-Parvatipuram, was opened in 1908.