Pune’s rail connectivity with a number of states improved further on Friday with Union railway minister Mamata Banerjee announcing four new trains and increasing the frequency of the Jaipur-Pune Express from once a week to twice a week.
There was however, no relief for passengers of local trains, who over the past many years have been demanding an increase in the number of rakes and frequency of local trains.
The new trains that will be introduced in the next financial year are the Pune-Ahmedabad AC Duronto (tri-weekly), Pune-Secunderabad Shatabdi Express, Pune-Nanded Express (weekly) via Latur and Ranchi-Pune Express (bi-weekly) via Bilaspur.
Banerjee announced the establishment of a multi-disciplinary training centre for railway employees in Pune, along with Dharwad (Karnataka) and Kolkata (West Bengal). Keeping the long-term demands for local connectivity in view, the railways would also carry out a survey in the next financial year for establishing a third line between Pune and Lonavla. Reacting to the budget, passengers welcomed the introduction of new trains and were happy that fares had not been increased and e-ticketing charges had been dropped.
They were, however, unhappy that nothing had been done to improve the local train service or passenger amenities at the railway stations in the city.
Officials from the railway’s Pune division said that the introduction of new trains would benefit Puneites significantly in view of “high demand for tickets on routes like Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Secunderabad.”
Chandmal Parmar, chairman of the road transport management sub-committee of the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA), felt that the budget did not have much for Maharashtra. “Although new trains have been introduced, our demand for more trains between Pune and Mumbai after 10 am has not been addressed,” he said.
