480 stranded students helped to reach home

Vijayawada: The Vijayawada Division of the SCR helped the stranded waiting list students belonging to North East and West Bengal to reach their home states by deploying five extra coaches to Vasco Da Gama-Howrah Amaravati Express on Friday.

Around 480 students who took part in the Ekalavya Model Residential Schools, National sports Meet held in Vijayawada were stranded due to unconfirmed waiting list tickets in their return journey. The coordinated efforts of Commercial, Operating and Security Departments within a short span of time made their home-bound journey possible. Three Coaches were mobilised from Narsapur and other two coaches were arranged from Vijayawada Depot to accommodate the students. A Parcel van (VP) was also detached from the Amaravati Express formation at Vijayawada to support the cause and accommodate the five additional coaches at Vijayawada.

On receipt of representation from Andhra Pradesh Tribal Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (APTWREI), the Commercial department officials swung into action and coordinated with Zonal Headquarters for permission to provide the special coaches at Vijayawada. The Commercial Department processed the request of Vice-Chairman, APTWREI within 24 hours to help the stranded students. After obtaining requisite permissions, five additional coaches were mobilised from Narsapur and Vijayawada coaching depots by the operating department. The Commercial department had generated fresh waiting list tickets for all the students by yesterday evening. All the waitlisted tickets were released through Emergency Quota by augmenting the quota of Vijayawada Division to provide confirmed accommodation for the students.

After the train reached Vijayawada station at 02:30 am on Friday, five additional coaches were attached next to the engine with extra care. A Parcel Van was also detached at Vijayawada by the officials to accommodate the extra coaches in the formation as a special case. The Commercial department deployed additional ticket checking staff and security personnel to guide the students to their respective coaches safely. After all, 480 students boarded the train safely. Andhra Pradesh Tribal Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society thanked the Vijayawada division for rising up to the occasion and going the extra mile to help the North East students.

Divisional Railway Manager Shivendra Mohan appreciated the efforts of Vavilapalli Rambabu, Sr DCM and security staff for arranging the special coaches and helping the stranded students to reach their destination with perfect coordination and monitoring.