Hyderabad: With lakhs of people heading to their hometowns to celebrate Sankranti, there has been an unprecedented surge of commuters at railway and bus terminals. Whether by rail, air, bus, or private vehicles, all modes of transportation are packed due to the festive rush.
Unprecedented surge
South Central Railway (SCR) is operating 366 special trains during January, including 176 for the Sankranti season, to meet the influx of passengers. Also, to meet the high demand additional coaches have been added to 15 trains.
“Train. no. 20707/20708 Secunderabad – Visakhapatnam Vande Bharat Express is enhanced to run with 16 coaches from Jan 13 (Monday). Similarly, train no. 20833/20834 Visakhapatnam – Secunderabad Vande Bharat Express which was initially introduced with 16 coaches’ have been added with 4 additional chair car coaches,” said an official from SCR.
The popular destinations to which these special trains are being operated are Narsapur, Kakinada, Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam, Machilipatnam, Tirupati, Berhampur, Jaipur, Gorakhpur, Cuttack, Madurai, Arsikere, etc.
Taking into consideration the recent inauguration of Charlapalli railway terminal, 61 special trains are being operated from this station towards Narsapur, Kakinada, Srikakulam, etc., which includes 18 Jansadharan trains that are being operated exclusively with general coaches from Charlapalli to Visakhapatnam and back. The Telangana state road transport corporation is operating 6,432 special buses during Sankranti.
These services are available to passengers till Jan 15 from MGBS, JBS, Uppal, LB Nagar, KPHB, and Gachibowli to different parts of AP.
Private travels jack up fares
Cashing in on the festive rush, private travel operators are demanding almost 6,000 – 9,000 each from people travelling to AP. For instance, for Sunday night, some operators are charging 9,000 from Hyderabad to Rajahmundry.
“As all the trains and RTC buses to Vijayawada are packed, I decided to go by private travels. However, I was shocked to see these operators charging 5,000 – 6,000, which is 10 times higher when compared to fares in RTC buses,” said C Vaishnavi, an IT professional in LB Nagar.
Unprecedented surge
South Central Railway (SCR) is operating 366 special trains during January, including 176 for the Sankranti season, to meet the influx of passengers. Also, to meet the high demand additional coaches have been added to 15 trains.
“Train. no. 20707/20708 Secunderabad – Visakhapatnam Vande Bharat Express is enhanced to run with 16 coaches from Jan 13 (Monday). Similarly, train no. 20833/20834 Visakhapatnam – Secunderabad Vande Bharat Express which was initially introduced with 16 coaches’ have been added with 4 additional chair car coaches,” said an official from SCR.
The popular destinations to which these special trains are being operated are Narsapur, Kakinada, Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam, Machilipatnam, Tirupati, Berhampur, Jaipur, Gorakhpur, Cuttack, Madurai, Arsikere, etc.
Taking into consideration the recent inauguration of Charlapalli railway terminal, 61 special trains are being operated from this station towards Narsapur, Kakinada, Srikakulam, etc., which includes 18 Jansadharan trains that are being operated exclusively with general coaches from Charlapalli to Visakhapatnam and back. The Telangana state road transport corporation is operating 6,432 special buses during Sankranti.
These services are available to passengers till Jan 15 from MGBS, JBS, Uppal, LB Nagar, KPHB, and Gachibowli to different parts of AP.
Private travels jack up fares
Cashing in on the festive rush, private travel operators are demanding almost 6,000 – 9,000 each from people travelling to AP. For instance, for Sunday night, some operators are charging 9,000 from Hyderabad to Rajahmundry.
“As all the trains and RTC buses to Vijayawada are packed, I decided to go by private travels. However, I was shocked to see these operators charging 5,000 – 6,000, which is 10 times higher when compared to fares in RTC buses,” said C Vaishnavi, an IT professional in LB Nagar.
