Naresh, a government employee living in Anakapalle, and Achari, a teacher living in Vizianagaram, who commute to the city daily for work, find the lack of local trains a curse for commuters.
“Though there are trains from Anakapalle to Visakhapatnam, they do not match the actual demand. I have to board either 57271 BZA- Rayagada Passenger or 57255 Kakinada - Vizag EMU, which are already packed to capacity with hardly any space to get in,” says Naresh.
Mr. Achari travels from Vizianagaram to Visakhapatnam every day. He boards 78531 Vizianagaram-Visakhapatnam DEMU, which is...
more... packed to capacity with hardly any space to stand comfortably leave alone sitting in the train.
Both Naresh and Achari feel that there should be MEMU s (Mainline Electrical Multiple Unit) between Tuni/Anakapalle to Vizianagaram via Visakhapatnam after every 1 hour and a few services can be extended up to Annavaram one side (as it would meet the requirement of pilgrims travelling to Sri Satyanarayana Swamy temple) and Srikakulam on other side (as it would be useful to those going to Arasavalli and Srikurmam temples).
The introduction of the local trains would help in reducing the load on the National Highway and minimising road accidents. This is not all, the middle class and the poor will be saved the hassle of paying three or four times the fare for travel in buses.