Superfast Prabhu gives return gift to AP
On Naidu’s request, Prabhu gifted Andhra Pradesh a train after the state sent him to the Rajya Sabha.
Overwhelmed by his unopposed election to the Rajya Sabha from Andhra Pradesh early this month, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu presented a return gift to the state in the form of a superfast express train between its capital, Amaravati (Vijayawada-Guntur) and Hyderabad from 20 June. This six-day a week train will cater to the needs of AP government employees who will start shifting to Amaravati from 27 June.
The new train will start at Secunderabad at 5.30 am and reach Vijayawada by 11 am and leave Vijayawada at 5.30 pm and reach Secunderabad by 11.10 pm. The train will stop only at Vijayawada in between Secunderabad and Guntur. Prabbu will flag off the train at a function in Vijayawada at 9 pm on 20 June and it will run on regular times from 22 June.
Interestingly, the process of sanctioning of this superfast train, right from the proposal from the AP CM to acceptance by the Railway Minister, has been completed superfast.
Suresh Prabhu called on AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu last week, to thank him for sending him to the RS from the TDP quota (BJP has just 5 MLAs as against 40 MLAs needed for an RS MP) and this proposal came up.
Prabhu immediately accepted it and directed the Railway Board to process it so that the train can be launched on 20 June. Prabhu openly announced that he was part and parcel of AP and would do whatever he can to fulfill the needs of people of AP in the Railway Ministry. “I know the newly carved out state of AP has so many railway needs and I will implement them,” he said at Vijayawada last week.
This superfast express is one of many measures taken by CM Naidu to meet the demands of AP government employees who are reluctant to shift from Hyderabad to Amaravati from 27 June, as decided by the government.
The timings of this train are expected to be adjusted a little as the offices at Amaravati will work from 10.30 am to 5 pm.