Jeypore: Vistadome coach service witnessed an expansion with addition of two new coaches to Kirandul-Vishakhapatnam and Vishakhapatnam-Kirandul express trains plying by Jeypore railway station. The matter came to the fore after the service was launched from Jeypore railway station, Wednesday. Two Vistadome coaches having 42 seats have been added to Vishakhapatnam-Kirandul express train plying through Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh. This development has spread cheers among the locals as they welcomed the expansion of the service to Jeypore railway station.
The expansion of the service has also spread cheers in Kirandul in Chhattisgarh as it was only available till Araku in Andhra Pradesh since 2017. While the service is available in 20 other trains in the country, it is only available in this train which runs through Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. People in Kotpad, Kusumi, Manbar, Chhatriput and Dhanpur having facilities of a station in Koraput district can also avail this service. The new coach will be attracting tourists and travellers visiting from Odisha, Andhra and Chhattisgarh.
A trip on a Vistadome coach is unlike any other, with comfortable seats that can be rotated around 180 degrees, a glass dome with anti-glare displays, and large glass windows through which passengers can take in the scenery while staying connected via WiFi. Vistadome coaches indeed give passengers a train journey like never before. The inclusion of this service will help the visitors travelling to Seemanchal and Arakubora of Andhra Pradesh, Machhkund, Sabar Srikhetra Koraput, Maliguda and Jeypore of Odisha as well as Tirathgad and Chitrakoot of Chhattisgarh. The coaches have been added to attract the visitors from outside of the state as well as foreign countries. Notably, the Vistadome coach service was first launched in Vishakhapatnam-Kirandul express train.
However, the coaches were not coming to Odisha as it was started under the joint effort of the Tourism department of Andhra Pradesh and the Railways. The coaches used to be taken out from the train before it entered Odisha and attached again when the down train for Vishakhapatnam entered Andhra border. The issue came up in the public domain when Union Railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw visited Jeypore August 22, last year. The denizens raised the issue before him and demanded his intervention. Later, the Koraput MP also wrote a letter to Vaishnaw drawing his attention.