318 Andhra Pradesh passengers arrive from Delhi

Vijayawada: It was a delightful and memorable journey for the 318 stranded passengers of Andhra Pradesh in Delhi and other areas in North India as they arrived in Vijayawada by Rajadhani special train on Thursday from Delhi. The Railways are running special trains from Delhi to various destinations in the country. As as part of it, the Delhi-Chennai train was started on Wednesday and arrived in Vijayawada railway station on Thursday.

The 318 stranded passengers, including students, employees, traders and others, boarded the special train in Delhi and comfortably reached Vijayawada.

The Railways and the state government are working in co-ordination for the convenience of the passengers and helping them to reach their respective districts in buses, which are arranged by the RTC. As soon as they arrived, thermal screening test was conducted on the platform and later the passengers were left to their districts.

Stranded people from Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, West Godavari, Srikakulam, East Godavari, Chittoor and other districts have heaved a sigh of relief after reaching Vijayawada railway station. Similarly, 242 passengers boarded the same train in Vijayawada to reach Chennai. Before that, the Railways have conducted screening test and asked them to wear masks without fail. A student D Vamsi of Jarugumilli mandal of Prakasam district was doing Ph D in Meerut and stranded there for nearly 50 days due to the lockdown. Vamsi has availed the train service facility and came back to the State.

"I am very happy to come back to my state," said delighted Vamsi. Another youngster Sai Kiran of East Godavari said he went to Delhi to take coaching for the competitive examinations and struck there since the lockdown. He said he was eager to go back to Amalapuram and thanked the Railways for operating the special trains. Interestingly, some of them were unaware of the prolonged lockdown and could not come back to the State.

Another passenger K John, a priest from West Godavari, said that he had to return to West Godavari on March 22 but could not make it due to Janata curfew and been stranded there since then. He said many Telugu people in Delhi are stranded and been eagerly waiting to return to their homes. Some passengers have said that they don't know about the 14-day quarantine rule and just booked the ticket to go back to Andhra Pradesh.

The Railways have sanitized the railway station to mark the arrival of passengers and separate ways were arranged for entry and departure of passengers. Proper checking arrangements were made so as to ensure that only confirmed passengers are allowed to enter the station. Proper markings were done on the platform areas for guiding the passengers to practice social distancing while at the station.