A delightful travel experience that remains etched in memory!

For any tourist destination, the vacation experience starts arriving at the spot after concluding hours of travelling.

But not to Araku Valley, as the holiday mood sets in as soon as one board the glass-enclosed Linke Hofmann Bosch (LHB) Vistadome coach.

Passing through 58 longest tunnels, including a 520-mt-long one, 84 bridges, in a see-through coach, offer an exciting experience to the travellers.

Given the unique features the Visakhapatnam-Kirandul train offers, most tourists evince interest in boarding the train rather than opting for any other mode of transport.

Tucked away 130-km from Visakhapatnam, Araku Valley, endowed with cascading waterfalls, verdant lush green fields, and coffee plantations speckled along the Eastern Ghats.

In India, most of the trains operated on hilly terrain are either run in a meter gauge track or narrow gauge lines but Araku line is a broad gauge that passes through Similiguda station, the highest vast gauge station of India at 996.32 meters above the sea level, till the construction of Qazigund in Jammu and Kashmir.

Designed with wider windows that provide a 360-degree view, seats that recline and rotate a full 180 degrees, the LHB Vistadome coaches offer a delightful experience to the passengers.

From transparent Plexiglas roofs to large windows, Wi-Fi service to glass rooftops and anti-glare screens, the Vistadome coach snakes through the tunnels, allowing the travellers to soak in the beauty of Eastern Ghats.

In 2017, the Indian Railways had launched the country's first Integral Coach Factory Vistadome coach service along Visakhapatnam- Araku route.

Waltair Division of East Coast Railway (ECoR) officials mentioned that as many as 80,000 passengers have so far experienced the exhilarating journey of boarding the train.

However, the corona pandemic did apply a brake in the continuance of the train service. Owing which, the passengers' count has been cut short. Otherwise, the railway officials assert, it would have crossed a lakh by now.

Launching the Vistodome coach recently in the port city, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu mentioned that the route along the hilly terrain of Eastern Ghats has a huge tourism potential and that the journey is sure to provide an unforgettable experience for the passengers.

From the time the Vistadome coach was introduced to Araku from Visakhapatnam, the service registered 100 percent occupancy. Recently, the count of the Vistadome coach in the train has increased to two from the initial one coach.

The ECoR authorities and Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation appealed to the Indian Railways to operate a special train with complete Vistadome coaches to tap the tourism potential further. Also, the proposal has been brought to the notice of the Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy who had assured that it would be looked into at the earliest.

If the complete Vistadome coach service becomes a reality, the trip from Visakhapatnam to Araku would be one of the major tourist attractions in the country.