KHAMMAM: Just a few days ago, the South Central Railway had introduced a new push-pull train in place of the conventional Singareni fast passenger train, which used to run from the Bhadrachalam station road to Balarsha in Maharashtra. The passengers or the workers at Singareni Collieries, however, are not too happy with the development. There is now a widespread demand for the revival of the passenger train, with the leaders of various political parties even staging dharnas and rasta-rokos.
Introduced about 43 years ago, the train was a favourite among commuters, especially the employees of Singareni Collieries. In addition to covering all coal belt towns and areas, the train also had the capacity to carry more number of passengers than the new push-pull train. The passenger train had 20 compartments and each of these compartments could seat more than 20 persons. The Push-pull, meanwhile, has only 13 compartments, and each of these compartments cannot seat more than 11 to 13 passengers.
“We have met both the railway and government officials seeking the restoration of the passenger service,” said TRS leader and Kovvur Railway Line Sadhana Committee leader K P Charyulu. Kothagudem MLA V Venkateswara Rao also assured the people to take the issue to the higher officials.