Visakhapatnam: Kanchumurthi Eswar, a member of the Zonal Railway Users’ Consultative Committeeof the East Coast Railway, along with railway activist Venkati B, submitted several key requests to the Waltair railway division aimed at improving rail services in the region. They urged for a halt of the Vande Bharat Express trains — train Nos.20833/20834 (Visakhapatnam–Secunderabad) and 20707/20708 (Secunderabad–Visakhapatnam) — at Duvvada station.They also advocated for the introduction of Vande Bharat sleeper-class trains from Visakhapatnam to Bengaluru, routed through Tirupati and Chennai, to enhance regional connectivity. Eswar and Venkati also proposed increasing the frequency of several long-distance trains, recommending the conversion of weekly services to daily operations on routes such as Visakhapatnam–Kollam, Visakhapatnam–Shirdi, Visakhapatnam–Gandhidham, Visakhapatnam–Varanasi, and Visakhapatnam–Chennai.Additionally, they addressed the urgent need for temporary coach augmentation for train No. 22707 (Visakhapatnam–Tirupati), which currently operates with only 11 coaches. They suggested adding third AC or second AC coaches to meet increased passenger demand during peak seasons. They also requested the divisional railway manager (DRM) and other officials to visit Duvvada station to assess its infrastructure, passenger amenities, and developmental needs on the ground.
