Stoppage sought for Duranto special at Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam: Zonal Railway Users' Consultative Committee, East Coast Railway has sought a stop at Visakhapatnam railway station for the Howrah-Yesvantpur-Howrah Duranto Express (12445/12446) that operates five-day a week.

The committee member N Gajapathi Rao in a letter to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal mentioned that the express, however, has a stoppage at Vizianagaram station which is 62-km away from Visakhapatnam. "But there is no such facility at Visakhapatnam which we have been demanding since the inception of the Duranto Express," he stated.

After the outbreak of the pandemic, the train is being run as Duranto special (022445/ 022446). Until recently the train used to have an unofficial stop at Vizianagaram for watering and other purposes. However, there is no stop between Bhubaneswar and Vijayawada that roughly covers 800-km, the committee member added.

Rao further stated that there's no train connectivity between Visakhapatnam and Bengaluru during the lockdown period. He laid emphasis on rerouting the train and facilitating a stoppage at Visakhapatnam railway station for the express.