Despite high demand, daily train to Bengaluru continues to elude Visakhapatnam

The Visakhapatnam to SMVT Bengaluru special has been scrapped, and some long distance trains continue to bypass Visakhapatnam junction, ignoring the tremendous demand. The Railways, which has been dodging the demand for an originating daily train to Bengaluru for years, continue to give evasive replies to queries regarding the issue.

This, despite the positive assurances given by Union ministers over the years on the operation of a direct train from Visakhapatnam to Bengaluru. Of the bypassing Bengaluru-bound trains, the Howrah-SMVT Bengaluru weekly Humsafar express, the New Tinsukia-SMVT weekly SF express and Muzzafarpu-SMVT weekly express do not even have a stoppage at Duvvada.

In all, 12 long distance express trains to various destinations are bypassing the main station in Visakhapatnam, and there has been a long-standing demand for re-routing these trains through Visakhapatnam junction. Moreover, unlike other major cities, Visakhapatnam does not have local or MEMU trains to help passengers alighting at satellite stations such as Duvvada and Pendurthi to reach the main station.

An NSG-1 category railway station, Visakhapatnam junction is the number one among the top 20 railway stations under East Coast Railway (ECoR). It had a total footfall (inward/outward) of over 2.77 crore passengers from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024, and the total earnings (PRS+UTS) of ₹546.14 crore.

Train no. 08543 Visakhapatnam-SMVT Bengaluru SF special had an average occupancy of 142.11% for the period from April 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024.

It may recalled that Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy wrote to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in March 2022 on the need to start a daily train from Visakhapatnam to Bengaluru via Vijayawada and Tirupati. He had said that the Prasanthi Express, which was originating from Visakhaptanam, was extended to Bhubaneswar, which resulted in the curtailment of its allocated reservation quota.

Now, in response to an RTI query from Kanchumurthi Eswar of Visakhapatnam on the latest Visakhapatnam–Bengaluru direct daily trains, provision of Vande Bharat sleeper and proposals of new trains from Visakhapatnam to Bengaluru, Yesvantpur and Mysore among others, the Railways replied: “Introduction of trains services, including Vande Bharat services, is an ongoing process on Indian Railways.”