Suspension of Bhagyanagar express services irk passengers

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: South Central Railway (SCR) officials are drawing flak from the public here for temporarily cancelling of affordable daily Bhagyanagar express shuttles between Sirpur (T) and Secunderabad citing repairing of the third track between Kazipet and Balharshah junctions recently.

The suspension of the services of the train is causing not only inconvenience to passengers, but also a financial burden to many.

Services of the daily express were introduced to ease traffic and to improve the transportation facility for economically weak people of northern Telangana in 1986.

However, in a very rare move, the services were cancelled, following the repairing of the third track on April 30. However, services of other superfast trains bound to New Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru were not suspended.

“I have to spend over Rs.500 to travel from Kaghaznagar to Hyderabad by TSRTC buses as against the Rs 95 charged for commuting on the Bhagyanagar express. The travelling time by bus is considerably higher than that of the train. It takes at least 9 hours when compared to 7 hours consumed for a train journey,” E Dinesh Kumar, a passenger from the town pointed out.

Passengers said they were now shelling huge amounts to reach Hyderabad for various needs including medical emergencies if they hire cars due to unavailability of the express.

They stated that the private transport operators were charging at least Rs.3,500 for renting a car from Kaghaznagar, Bellampalli, Mancherial and other towns to Hyderabad a day.

Not only the general public, students and private employees, but also officials of various departments commute by the train from northern Telangana to Hyderabad, Warangal, Hanamkonda and other cities of southern parts of the state every day.

The passengers requested the SCR to resume the services of the train at the earliest. Meanwhile, services of Belgaum-Bhadrachalam Road daily train were also suspended till May 21, affecting passengers on Kazipet-Balharshah route due to the rolling corridor block programme in SC.

Services of Sir Mokhshagundam Visveshvaraya Terminal (SMVT)-Bengauluru to Bidar were also partially suspended. Officials of the SCR said that efforts were being made to resume the services of the Bhagyanagar express by May 10.