Matter was raised on the basis of Central Railway proposed to run local trains between Kalyan and Pune
Commuters demand local trains till Vapi or Surat starting from Dahanu. However, the rail authorities feel that the extension of the same is not possible any time soon. The Western Railway has apparently squashed this idea raised by the passenger associations at the Zonal Railway Users Consultative Committee (ZRUCC) meeting that took place on Monday. This demand was raised on the basis of Central Railway (CR) proposing to run local trains all the way till Pune from Kalyan for which trials have begun.
On Monday at the ZRUCC meeting, one of the topics of discussion was running local EMU trains till Vapi or Surat. The demand was to run locals between Dahanu and Vapi or Surat so that it can give an option to people travelling all the way from Mumbai. The members of the ZRUCC, who are local commuters nominated by the Railway ministry, attended the meeting.
Deepak Agrawal, a member of ZRUCC made this suggestion at the meeting. Sources said that the operation of local trains to Vapi or Surat from Dahanu is feasible. As per norms, local EMUs should operate within 150kms distance. In this case, the approximate distance between Dahanu-Vapi is 50kms and Dahanu-Surat is 130kms long.
At present, over 1 lakh people travel by 127 long distance trains every day running on Mumbai-Surat route; including Vapi. While Vapi is an industrial belt, Surat is a hub for various businesses including diamond merchants, cloth, textiles and other tradings. There are many people travelling to Valsad as well.
Railway officials said that there have been cases of fights between passengers travelling from Surat or Vapi and passengers holding valid tickets. This happens mainly in the morning hours.
"This is a legit demand. We sincerely hope that the Western Railway takes this proposal ahead," said Subhash Gupta, president, Rail Yatri Parishad.
Sources, however, said that the WR authorities informed in the meeting that running EMU local trains between Dahanu-Vapi/Surat is not possible. "There is no such plan of running suburban local trains to Surat or Vapi from Dahanu," said Ravinder Bhakar, Chief PRO, Western Railway.
At present, local trains running on Churchgate-Dahanu 123 km route ferries nearly 85000 daily passengers. This demand comes on lines of the proposed trials of EMU trains on the hilly terrain between Kalyan and Pune via Lonavala. "The technical upgrade in local trains is underway. Trials are yet to begin," said Sunil Udasi, Chief PRO, Central Railway.
Sources said that brakes are being provided in each of the coaches instead of every third coach. This is for better brake facility especially to run local trains on hilly terrain.
FACT BOX
Sources said that the operation of local trains to Vapi and Surat from Dahanu is feasible. As per norms, local EMUs should operate within 150kms distance. In this case, the approximate distance between Dahanu-Vapi is 50kms and Dahanu-Surat is 130kms long. At present, over 1 lakh people travel by 127 long distance trains every day running on Mumbai-Surat route; including Vapi.
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 "Local Train")
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