Secunderabad station turns chock-a-block

Secunderabad: The Secunderabad station witnessed footfalls of around 3 lakh passengers on the second RTC bus strike on Sunday. It was said to be increasing by the day. Due to the ongoing festive season and RTC workers' indefinite strike, many passengers are opting for railway travel at last minute.

Station Manager Raja Narsu said, "The passengers coming in now are the ones who show up at the last moment before holidays. The RTC strike has somewhat hampered the railways management but we are already prepared with special trains in case of any crowd outbreak." He further added, "As it is past weekend many of the commuters have already reached their destinations, so the rush is a bit less compared to the first two days of the strike."

Raju, who came to Hyderabad on Sunday morning from Vijayawada for a health check-up at Niloufer Hospital, couldn't find any bus and had to take an auto which charged him almost triple the amount he spent on coming to Hyderabad.

He was seen waiting at Secunderabad general waiting room for the past four hours due to non-availability of tickets for his return journey. He said, "I was aware about the bus strikes but I didn't expect it to be so severe. I have to report back to my work but I am stranded here for the past the four hours."

S Srikant, who was going to Tirupati with his family, was stranded at the station for the past three hours. Srikant, a resident of Alwal, said they had to take a private auto to reach Secunderabad station as there were no frequent buses from their place. He said, "I was going to Tirupati with my family for holidays.

Because of strikes I could not come in the earlier two days to book tickets. Now we are forced to make this last-minute booking. We are waiting for confirmation as the train is around 11pm and still it is in waiting list, if not confirmed we might go in general coach itself."

The Vijayawada Exp, which departed around 6:00 pm, had all general coaches filled and around 3,000 plus passengers travelled in it even though the train had a capacity of 2,000 passengers.

As per the Station Director CH Jayaram, the Secunderabad Railway Station started five special trains to clear the festive rush and keeping the RTC workers' strike in mind. These trains would be running on alternate days until festive season.

They are 12 noon Bezawada Express; 12.40 pm Kagaznagar Express; 7:25 pm Secunderabad Kakinada special; 9:00 pm Hyderabad Trivandrum Express; and 10:00 PM Secunderabad Nagarsol Express.