Visakhapatnam: The people of North Coastal Andhra Pradesh, who are keenly looking forward for the tabling of the Railway budget in the Parliament on Thursday, are hopeful of an announcement regarding a separate railway zone for Visakhapatnam, a dream that was presented to the people during the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, but not turned into reality. People’s representatives’ demands included introduction of Visakhapatnam-Varanasi, Visakhapatnam-Chennai and Visakhapatnam-Bengaluru daily trains and conversion of the tri-weekly Visakhapatnam-Secunderabad Duronto express to a daily service.
The 2015 Railway budget did not announce a separate railway zone for Visakhapatnam, but made a provision of Rs 659 crore for various developmental works to be undertaken in the Waltair Division, many of which have not made any mentionable progress. Projects, such as a ‘wagon periodical overhauling workshop’ at Vadlapudi and the augmentation of the diesel loco shed at Visakhapatnam to house 100 HHP locomotives, have remained on paper only.
A railway union leader told Deccan Chronicle, “The people of Vizag carry many expectations, but the government lets them down year after year.” Vizag MP K. Haribabu and Union minister for civil aviation P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju had proposed the introduction of the Shatabdi Express or a double-decker express between Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada in view of the increasing passenger flow from one city to the other and to reduce the commuting time. To tap Vizag’s tourism potential, there is also a proposal for a second train to the Araku Valley.
As for the use to which the 2015 budgetary allocations had been put, a railway official said that they had taken up various renovation works at the Vizag railway station. “From augmenting the existing facilities to upgrading infrastructure, plans are afoot to make it a world-class railway station,” he added. The demand for a separate railway zone – now a rather sentimental issue in the region -- reached its peak during the last few months. Some Left parties also warned the government of launching a fast-unto-death if it was not fulfilled.
