Vijayapura: Several trains which were suspended owing to lockdown and lack of passengers, are now gradually coming back on track with Indian Railways resuming their services.
In this regard only, South Western Railway (SWR) has decided to operate another special express train connecting between Vijayapura and Bengaluru.
After the lockdown, only fifteen out of twenty-six scheduled trains have resumed their operations. Among them nine are daily trains, four are weekly and two are biweekly trains. To this list of operating trains another daily special express train Vijayapura -Yeshwantpur (06542/41) will be added from April 11. However, this special express train will start its operations from April 10 from Yeshwantpur.
This train will run from Vijayapura via Hosapete and Chikajajur junction to reach Yeshwantpur. The train will depart Vijayapura at 7pm and reach the destination Yeshwantpur at 10:20 am and the same train departs Yeshwantpur at 9:30pm and reaches Vijayapura at 11:40pm. This train will have one AC-3 tier coach, three sleeper coaches, four second class coaches, one disabled friendly compartment and two luggage-cum breakeven coaches.
Railway official said that the online booking for the special daily express has already started. All the berths will be reserved, that is, the passengers have to either book the tickets online or at the reservation counters in railway stations. The general tickets will not be issued as the train is being operated with limited seats adhering to the Covid-19 norms.
At present two-daily special express trains are being operated to Bengaluru via Vijayapura, one is Gol Gumbaz Express and another is Basava Express. With the introduction of this new express train (06542/41) the tally will increase to three trains.
It may be noted that the same express train was first introduced in November 2019, where late union minister Suresh Angadi had flagged-off. It had failed to receive the expected response from the public because of unfriendly timings. This train was operated in loss until the train services were discontinued owing to outbreak of coronavirus. After the post-lockdown the netizens demanded the SWR to continue the special express train. Now, after over a year the railway authorities have decided to resume the Vijayapura -Yeshwantpur special express train from the third week of this month.
