Freight performance improves in Vijayawada Railway Division

Vijayawada: South Central Railway Vijayawada Division has performed well, in spite of Covid-19 challenges and overall freight performance gained momentum across the division and would surpass the previous year earnings by a good margin, said Divisional Commercial Manager K Rajendra Prasad.

He addressed 129th Divisional Rail Users Consultative Committee (DRUCC) meeting through virtual mode on Wednesday. Divisional Railway Manager and chairman of the DRUCC Shivendra Mohan was the chief guest.

Rajendra Prasad said the division has captured many new streams of traffic due to the dedicated efforts of BDU teams. "New commodities like maize, industrial salt, fly ash, soya bean oil and fish feed and many other new streams of traffic were achieved," he said.

He also said that the division has recaptured mango traffic from Nuzvid after a long gap of six years and 33 Kisan Special rakes of onions were loaded from Tadepalligudem.

Addressing the meeting, the DRM said that 99 percent Mail and Express services were restored or renumbered and were in operation across the division compared to pre-Covid levels. He said that currently the division is operating 17 unreserved special Express with lesser travel time to facilitate intra-state travel from July 19, 2021. He also said that 36 Mail/ Express trains originating as well as terminating in our SCR zone were provided with de-reserved coaches for the benefit of unreserved passengers.

The DRM said that nine FOBs, 10 lifts and two escalators were commissioned. He also said that at Vijayawada station mega FOB with a gangway of 6.2m and 165m length was made open to public. "Sixteen large 63-inch LED displays were installed at Vijayawada station and two at Anakapalle for easily locating the coaches," he added.

He said that 65 KW BIPV Solar on PF 4-5 and 8-9 was recently commissioned and Vijayawada station is the only station in Indian Railways to be equipped with the BIPV solar capacity of 130 KWP. He also said that for the first time in SCR Zone Operation Trishul and Triveni was successfully conducted. He also said that 118 stations of Vijayawada Division are provided with free Wi-Fi facility.

The DRUCC members expressed their satisfaction on the Divisional performance especially in the areas of passenger amenities and critical infrastructure. The DRM assured all the members that all their grievances will be taken care and welcomed their valuable suggestions.

DRUCC Members Bandi Syamasundara Rao (Gudur), Aruna Narumanchi (Vijayawada), Manepalli Suryanarayana Gupta (Bhimavaram), Nagam Chandra Naga Siva Vara Prasad (Eluru), K Vijayakumar (Singarayakonda), Sivaraju Vasundhara Devi (Nuzvid), Manne Srinivasa Rao (Mangollu, Krishna Dist), Dasari Ravi Kumar (Vijayawada), Gogineni Anil Kumar (Guntupalli, Krishna Dist), AP Ravi Raj Kumar (Kakinada) and B Sri Ram Murthy (Chodavaram, Vizag)) attended the meeting.