South Central Railway announces 41 Sankranti special trains
HYDERABAD: South Central Railway (SCR) has announced 41 special trains between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to clear the Sankranti rush, with services scheduled between January 8 and 20.
Reservations for these special trains will open at 8 am on Sunday, December 14, SCR chief public relations officer A Sridhar said.
High-demand routes between Telugu states
Most of the special services will operate from Secunderabad, Vikarabad and Lingampalli to major Andhra Pradesh destinations such as Kakinada, Narsapur and Tirupati during the festive period.
The focus is on high-demand routes connecting the two Telugu states, as regular services are witnessing heavy demand and non-availability of tickets.
Kakinada, Secunderabad and Vikarabad services
The schedule includes Kakinada–Vikarabad (07263) on January 8, Vikarabad–Kakinada (07264) on January 9, Kakinada–Secunderabad (07279) on January 10 and Secunderabad–Kakinada (07280) on January 11.
Several other trips are planned on January 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19 and 20 on the Kakinada–Secunderabad, Kakinada–Vikarabad, Secunderabad–Kakinada and Kakinada–Lingampalli sectors to manage the surge in travel to and from coastal Andhra around Sankranti.
Additional Narsapur trains for Godavari region
In addition, SCR will operate multiple special trains between Vikarabad, Secunderabad, Lingampalli and Narsapur to cater to the heavy rush towards the Godavari region.
These include Vikarabad–Narsapur (07244) on January 9 and 11, Narsapur–Vikarabad (07245) on January 10, Narsapur–Secunderabad (07246) on January 12, and Secunderabad–Narsapur (07247) on January 9 and 13. Multiple Narsapur–Vikarabad and Vikarabad–Narsapur services will run between January 9 and 13.
Further, Narsapur–Lingampalli services (07257, 07258 and 07259) are scheduled from January 17 to 19, along with additional Vikarabad–Narsapur trips, including 07258, on January 18 and 20 to handle the return rush after the festival.
SCR appealed to passengers to use advance reservation facilities and said more special trains could be considered if demand remains high.
