Ongole passengers happy over Vande Bharat halt

Ongole (NTR district): Train commuters from Ongole railway station expressed happiness over the halting of Vande Bharat train, between Secunderabad and Tirupati, at Ongole station. At the same time, the passengers requested the government to consider their stoppage requests for other superfast and express trains.

The South Central Railway announced Vande Bharat Express between Secunderabad and Tirupati and proposed to stop the train at Ongole also. According to the proposed schedule, the 20701 Vande Bharat Express from Secunderabad to Tirupati will start from the origin at 6 am and reaches the destination at 14.30 pm with stops at Nalgonda, Guntur, Ongole and Nellore. On return journey, the 20702 Vande Bharat Express from Tirupati to Secunderabad will start at 15.15 pm and will reach the destination by 23.45 pm, with halts at Nellore, Ongole, Guntur and Nalgonda. The train covers 660.77 km of the journey in 8.30 hours with an average speed of 77.73 km per hour.

The 20701 Vande Bharat will reach Ongole at 11.09 am while the 20702 Vande Bharat reaches at 18.30 pm for a brief stop for one minute to proceed ahead and runs six days a week, except on Tuesdays.

Madasu Prabhakar Rao and Nukathoti Sudhakar, government employees at Vijayawada, said that they travel from Ongole daily. Expressing content over scheduling a halt for Vande Bharat train at Ongole, they said that hundreds of people will travel to Vijayawada, Chennai, Hyderabad and long distances like New Delhi every week on various works, as this place is home to granite, tobacco and other businesses. Apart from that, more than hundred employees from Ongole and surrounding areas will travel to Vijayawada in the morning by bus, as there is no convenient train service around 7 am. But, in the evening, they said that they would board Vikrama Simhapuri Intercity express to reduce journey time. They requested the government for one or two express services towards Vijayawada in morning hours between 5 am to 7 am.

Botla Ramarao, former member of Vijayawada Divisional Railway Users Consultative Committee from Prakasam district, said that their attempts to explain the importance of Ongole town on Kolkata Chennai line may be fruitful. He welcomed the schedule to halt Vande Bharat express at Ongole. He requested the local public representatives to mount pressure on the railway board for halts of more non-stop trains like Rajdhani Express, Tamil Nadu Express and Kerala Express to travel to the capital city of the country.