Barely six months after it launched a premium double-decker train from Mumbai to Goa, the Central Railway has discontinued the service, thanks to poor patronage.
The air-conditioned special train was introduced before last Ganeshotsav to provide another option to people travelling from city to Goa, especially the Konkan region, during the festival. The train, between Lokmanya Tilak Terminus to Karmali in Goa, offered about 1,000 tickets with market-controlled charges – where base price moves north in case of a rise in demand.
While it was expected that the double-decker service would be regularly made available to passengers, it was abruptly pulled out in October. A highly placed source in the CR said that running the train on Konkan Railway route proved to be unviable. "Most of the time, it was running with almost 50 per cent passenger load. Also, due to narrow curves and tunnels, there were many challenges to maintain it."
For instance, he said, CR had to send the coaches to a Western Railway workshop for maintenance as the latter has the expertise. "The minimum maintenance and overhauling time for one double-decker coach is one week. Now, whether to run them outside Mumbai division is the sole prerogative of the railway board."
Chandrashekhar, PRO, Central Railway said, "The DD superfast premium train was a special train which was running during Ganpati festival. It is stopped for the time being. There are various factors that we are looking in to run this train in the future too."
High cost of tickets was a big put-off, said Shashikant Kudalkar, a resident of Kudal in Konkan. "The railways should have charged normal fare for this train. That way, more people would have been able to use it."
Xavier D'souza, a regular rail passenger, too agreed that the ticket rates had derailed service. "The authorities should continue the train with normal fare keeping in mind the larger public interest."
The decision has upset the Goan community in the city. Manuel Diniz, who heads a Goan community club in Dhobi Talo area, said they would write to the railway minister with a request to run the train with normal fare. "About 1,000 Goans will sign our memorandum and we will also send a copy to defence minister Manohar Parrikar, who hails from Goa, to press for the cause."
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