City gets four new trains

With the announcement of four new trains from Pune,the railway budget presented by Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has brought cheers to the city. The superfast train to Ernakulam,the direct train to Jaipur and the Duronto Express to Howrah were all long-pending demands of Puneites.

After the Pune-Delhi Duronto Express,the city will get one more non-stop train connecting it with Kolkata. Three new trains are also being introduced in the city — the Pune-Ernakulam Superfast train that will run twice a week and the weekly trains to Bhubaneshwar and Jaipur. The Pune-Howrah Duronto AC train will run twice a week.

In a bid to promote tourism,Railways will launch 16 special ‘Bharat Tirth’ trains connecting popular tourist sites as also pilgrimage centres in different parts of the country. Of these,four trains are connected to Pune,with two of them starting off from Pune and two passing via Pune.

The four routes are:

* Mumbai-Pune-Tirupati-Kancheepuram-Rameswaram-Madurai-Kanyakumari-Pune-Mumbai

* Pune-Jaipur-Nathdwara-Ranakpur-Jaipur-Mathura-Agra-Haridwar-Amritsar-Jammu Tawi-Pune

* Pune-Ratnagiri-Goa-Bangalore-Mysore-Tirupati-Pune

* Madurai-Erode-Pune-Ujjain-Veraval-Nashik-Hyderabad-Chennai-Madurai

Apart from these,two trains — Pune-Miraj and Sangli-Miraj — will be extended till Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Terminus in Kolhapur,while the Pune-Daund daily will be extended to Baramati.

Another long-pending demand for electrification of the Pune-Daund route was also sanctioned in the budget — a move that has drawn praise from the passenger groups. “For the past few years,we had been demanding the electrification of this route. Once it is done,it will benefit a huge number of commuters,” said Prakash Vanarase of Pune-Daund Railway Pravasi Sangh.

Kanubhai Trivedi of Pune Pravasi Sangh said,“Even though this year’s budget did not satisfy many of Pune’s demands,overall it is a positive budget. Most importantly,there is no fare hike proposed.”

“By announcing a Bhubaneshwar-Pune train,the railway minister has made the Oriya population in Pune,which is about four lakh,happy. The demand for a direct train to Bhubaneshwar has been pending for long. So far,we had to depend on one train — Konark Express — that goes from Mumbai to Bhubaneshwar via Pune,” said Ambikanath Parida,director of Gayatri Management Consultancy

Chandmal Parmar,chairman of Road Transport Management Subcommittee of Mahratta Chamber of Commerce,Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) said,“Even though Pune has not got many trains that we had been demanding,the proposals like free travel for cancer patients and the promise of manning the 17,000 unmanned crossings in a phase-wise manner are positive,which will curb accidents.”

However,Harsha Shah,president of the Railway Pravasi Group,said the Union Minister had once again ignored the demand for increasing the frequency of Pune-Lonavala local trains. “The demand has been pending for 20 years,” she said.

Another activist Gulam Ali Bhaldar also said the budget was a disappointment for the local train passengers.