VISAKHAPATNAM : Realising the long-pending demand for a direct train between Visakhapatnam and New Delhi, the new air-conditioned Andhra Pradesh Express has finally chugged out of Visakhapatnam railway station at 9 am on Wednesday. Initially, the train will run as the Visakhapatnam-New Delhi-Visakhapatnam AP Express train numbered 22415 /22416 as a tri-weekly service via Vijayawada. The train will take 36 hours to reach Delhi from Visakhapatnam.
Railway minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu flagged off the train remotely from New Delhi in the presence of Union ministers M Venkaiah Naidu, P Ashok Gajapati Raju, Bandaru Dattatreya and Y Suguna Choudhary along with Visakhapatnam MP K Haribabu and others. A live telecast of the event was arranged at the Visakhapatnam railway station as well as at New Delhi.
Though the new AP Express was originally proposed to run as a daily train numbered 22701/22702 between New Delhi and Vijayawada as announced in the Railway Budget 2014-15, the non-availability of the rakes delayed the project. Considering that the operation of the train from Vijayawada as AP Express does not make any sense as the train would hardly pass through Andhra Pradesh, Visakhapatnam MP Haribabu insisted on running of the train from Visakhapatnam to New Delhi via Vijayawada or alternatively from Vijayawada to New Delhi via Visakhapatnam to cover the maximum area in Andhra Pradesh.
MLC MVVS Murthi wanted the railway authorities to operate the train as a daily with connecting trains from Tirupati, Srikakulam and Nellore as was suggested by Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu.
The MLC and also the MLAs hoped that the new railway zone with Visakhapatnam as its headquarters would be realised shortly.
Meanwhile, Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu who spoke to the mediapersons in New Delhi expressed happiness over the introduction of the new train.
