VISAKHAPATNAM: It will be a dream come true for Vizagites when the long awaited announcement of a separate railway zone with headquarters in Visakhapatnam is announced. All eyes are on the Railway budget which is expected to give a solution to the long pending demand.
People of Smart City are also expecting the Railway budget to take measures for eco-friendly station with several measures like usage of solar energy, recycling of water and use of LED lights. The pending works like developing all the stations with amenities are expected to be announced. Also frequency of trains, developing tourism spots, introduction of new trains, improvement in facilities at the stations and trains are also expected.
The Railway Budget is expected to announce measures for upgradation of safety measures, take up modernisation and beautification of railway stations.
“There is also a need for increasing the frequency of trains to Delhi, Bangalore and Tirupati,” he added.
“We expect that there will be no more increase in Tatakal rates and it will be good if frequency of trains to Delhi are increased,” said homemaker K Poornima.
A Sailaja Rani, a businesswoman, said: “A specially designed tourist train to Ooty and Araku and a pantry car in all the trains will augur well for tourism sector.”
“People are actually waiting to see if their wishes are fulfilled in terms of introduction of new trains, increase in frequency of important trains and looking into the welfare needs of the railway employees,” said a retired railway employee.