Gross injustice - Proposal to extend Godavari express and Garib Rath trains to Bhubaneswar from Visakhapatnam

This is in response to an article published in The Times of India, Hyderabad Edition on February 1st, 2009 that the Railway Board has approved extending the Godavari Express (which currently runs from Hyderabad to Visakhapatnam) and the Garib Rath Express (which has been introduced just 3 months ago and runs from Secunderabad to Visakhapatnam 4 days a week) to Bhubaneswar.
This is gross injustice to the people of Visakhapatnam; the Godavari express has the pride of the people of Andhra Pradesh for several decades and is possibly one of the best maintained trains in India. It is the main train between Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad and is so much in demand (Check the Waiting List on this train on any day and you will see the demand it has - probably one of the highest in India). The train passes through the heart of Coastal Andhra Pradesh and has important quotas and halts at several towns like Anakapalle, Tuni, Samalkot, Rajahmundry, Eluru, Vijayawada, Khammam, Warangal etc. It is really the life line of coastal Andhra Pradesh and it is really unjust to extend this train to Bhubaneswar. It may be pointed out that just last year, the Secunderabad - Visakhapatnam - Palasa Visakha Express has also been extended to Bhubaneswar (a train which is named after Visakhapatnam!!!) and other trains that were originally run from Vizag - Prashanti Express from Visakhapatnam to Bangalore and the weekly once from Chennai to Visakhapatnam (There has been a demand for a daily train from Vizag to Chennai for decades and we were finally given a weekly once and now even that has been extended) have also been extended in the recent past to Bhubaneswar quite unfairly.

The first fault on the part of the railways is to locate the head quarters of the East Coast Railway at Bhubaneswar, inspite of the Waltair Railway Division being the highest revenue earner because of being a very major port with many large scale industries like the Steel Plant, HPCL, Coromandel Fertilizer, Hindustan Zinc, BHEL (former BHPV) being around.

The second fault is the favoritism being shown to Bhubaneswar in extending all the important trains from Vizag. This is really a gross injustice to the 30 lakh plus residents of Vizag and the entire coastal Andhra Pradesh.
Vizag Railway Station has always been neglected and is ironically the first station in the East Coast Railway. Infact, the next station after Vizag near the steel plant, Duvvada is part of the South Central Railway. The SCR has expressed willingness to introduce new trains exclusively from Duvvada to Hyderabad to get rid of the East Coast Railway menace.

It might actually make sense to close the Vizag Railway Station if this proposal is implemented and leave the poor Vizag citizens to suffer.

The number of Volvo buses which ply from Vizag to Hyderabad is a big indicator of the demand for the travel between these 2 cities and the Railways' failure to meet the minimum requirement of fellow countrymen from this area. It is indeed almost next to impossible to get a train ticket from Vizag to Hyderabad any time of the year and the Railways just wants to compound this misery even further.

We petition the Railway Minister to immediately withdraw the proposal of extending the Godavari and Garib Rath trains and give back Vizag's lifeline.If at all you can do anything good for us, please add more trains which run exclusively from Vizag to Hyderabad.