Vendodu station desperately looks for train stoppings

Tirupati: People of about 30 villages covering four mandals in Tirupati district have lost the train facility from Vendodu station in Guduru section for over three years.

Hundreds of passengers used to travel from this station daily for the last 50 years which was very convenient for them. Besides five express trains, two passenger trains and a memu train between Gudur – Renigunta – Gudur were not stopping in the station since the Covid pandemic.

Though all the trains which had halt at Vendodu before the pandemic were resumed later, they were not provided halts at that station. Significantly, the trains like Krishna express, Puri express, Machilipatnam express and Tirumala express used to get good patronage on both the directions. Yet, it seems the railways was not interested in providing a halt at the station for any of the trains including passenger trains and memu services. The commuters, who are relied much on train services for their travel needs regularly, were disappointed with the attitude of railway authorities and expressed their anguish as all their requests have gone into deaf ears. They send several representations to railway officials at various levels and several public representatives which have gone in vain.

On behalf of the daily wage earners, devotees, employees, students, patients, farmers and others, one K Chandrasekhar along with some others have been putting in serious efforts seeking resumption of train halts at Vendodu station. Most of the surrounding villagers are lemon growing farmers and they used to transport lemons through the station

He said that due to lack of train facility, the villagers and particularly students have been experiencing a lot of inconvenience as there is no bus adequate bus facilities also to the surrounding villages of Vendodu station.

He felt that by resuming the halts for all the trains which used to stop at Vendodu till Covid pandemic will greatly help the villagers and students. The plight of farmers, who are incurring losses due to lack of transport facilities, will also be changed once a favourable decision is taken in this regard.