The persistent cancellation of prominent trains originating from Visakhapatnam, such as Janmabhoomi, Ratnachal, and Double Decker Express, since May 2023, has become a source of significant inconvenience for passengers and a substantial revenue loss for the railways.

Rail users are increasingly frustrated with the frequent cancellations, which, according to data obtained under the RTI Act by Kanchumurthy Eswar of Duvvada Railway Users’ Association, have been most notable under the East Coast Railway (ECoR) and the South Central Railway (SCR).

Between May 1 and December 17, 2023, SCR has canceled these trains, among others, for the maximum number of times.

Train no. 17219/20 (Machilipatnam-Visakhapatnam-Machilipatnam):Canceled 13 times by ECoR.
Canceled 169 times by SCR.

Train no: 17267/68 (Kakinada-Visakhapatnam-Kakinada) and 22708/07 (Tirupati-Visakhapatnam-Tirupati Double Decker):Canceled twice by ECoR.
Canceled 34 times by SCR.

Train no. 12740/39 (Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam-Secunderabad Garib Rath):Canceled 271 times by SCR.

Train no. 12805/06 (Visakhapatnam-Lingampalli-Visakhapatnam Janmabhoomi express):Canceled 44 times by SCR.

Train no: 17239/40 (Guntur-Visakhapatnam-Guntur Simhadri express):Canceled twice by ECoR.
Canceled 284 times by SCR.

Train no. 22701/02 (Visakhapatnam-Vijayawada-Visakhapatnam Double Decker Uday Express):Canceled twice by ECoR.
Canceled 264 times by SCR.

While safety and infrastructure development works may justify occasional cancellations, rail users find it challenging to comprehend the continuous cancellations by SCR.

The consistent cancellation of highly frequented trains during festivals and peak tourist seasons has also drawn criticism from passengers.

Efforts by public representatives, such as Kakinada MP Vanga Geetha and BJP Rajya Sabha Member G.V.L. Narasimha Rao, to address the issue and seek restoration of these trains have not yielded the desired results.

Rail users are expressing their discontent over the lack of action from the authorities, and the total financial loss to SCR and ECoR due to these cancellations is estimated to be in crores of rupees, as revealed in the RTI information obtained by Mr. Eswar.