govindaa hari govindaa, gokula nandanaa govindaa ..
Om namo venkatEsaaya.
I just found it to be the best way to start about this train.
Tirumala express, a train which gives the darshan of the Lord Venkateshwara picks up pilgrims from the North Coastal towns of AP.
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of the oldest trains in the SCR division and rarely found in news for anything. Pilgrims travel in this train not expecting anything great out of this train but to have a good darshan. Runs for 15 hours to cover a distance of 736 only :)
Why is it taking so much time? Is it preparing the passengers in it for the troubles to be encountered in the Q for the darshan of the Almighty.
Chant along with me, govinda govinda :)
Tirumala express is/was a train running from COA(Kakinada) to TPTY main till 2002. It used along the main line of RJY-EE-BZA.
few slip coaches used to attached at SLO which used to come from VSKP(VSKP was in SER). Imagine the plight of passengers travelling from VSKP. According to census of India, VSKP holds a population about more than 9lac( The figure may vary but not the demand) were having only 1 direct and convenient train to have the darshan of HIM. One of the other convenient trains was PURI-TPTY ( earlier, this was the fastest between TPTY-VSKP) but being a weekly express and the lesser quota to VSKP, the train wasn't much useful.
Thanks to Bandaru Dattatreya, the then MOS of Railways, VSPK passengers had got a direct and complete train to TPTY segregating from the current Tirumala.
The train which runs from VSKP is called as Tirumala and the complete train which starts from COA is called as Sheshadri( Namo Naraayana ) .
The latter's route is via BVRT and is extended upto SBC via COA, KPD giving a direct access to the coastal towns.
but back again, why is this train slow?
One line .. There are no trains to TPTY from the VSKP side.
Having 5 districts which altogether have 50% of the state population just have 2 trains( there are many by passing trains and trains via RU, a passenger from COA).
That's the reason why this train is slow. Its much slower the piligrim movement in the Vaikuntam Q complex.
But the pilgrims forget everything as they are expecting a great darshan which everyone wishes to have in their life time.
Unless, HE calls, none can have a visit of the hill.
Can things can be made better??
Ideally, N O.
Since, there is no connectivity from VSKP side, stops should not be reduced but increasing the speed and reducing the slack can be advantageous.
Also, the bypassing Santragachi-TPTY can be brought back to VSKP and the quota can be increased.
The BBS-YPR timings can be adjusted a bit so that it reaches TPTY a bit late so that it would facilitate many.a Weekly special called BBS TPTY do exists but passenger might be confused in which train and route he is travelling as it travels via new guntur.
Also, increasing quota like trains in Padmavathi and Narayandri from BZA/GNT would be helpful for many equally.
Thank you for the reading.
This is one the trains in SCR running to the zenith for every trip and hardly noticed. This trains does its duty and never expects mercy. May be HE gives the strength to run all the way.
As always, thumbs up if you like, thumbs down if you dont.
P.S : Lets not discuss anything much about the bypassing trains as it would trigger many.
Govinda Govindaa