Inclusion of north-bound trains in timetable irks Konkan passengers

Mumbai: The inclusion of two north India-bound special trains from Dadar in the latest issue of ‘Trains At a Glance’, the official timetable of the Indian Railways, has irked travellers to Maharashtra’s Konkan region, who have been seeking extension of the Diva-Ratnagiri passenger train till Dadar for several years.

On Wednesday, a delegation of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) met Central Railway (CR) officials to press on the demand and were assured of swift action. With polls to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and other civic bodies scheduled later this year, the issue is likely to be further politicised.

The two north India-bound special trains – between Dadar and Ballia, and Dadar and Gorakhpur – were started during the pandemic, but were not included in the official timetable as authorities were not sure of their demand and occupancy rates, CR officials told Hindustan Times.

“This is standard practice in the railways – special trains are added to the timetable only after running regularly for a considerable period,” said a CR official.

The inclusion of the Dadar-Ballia and Dadar-Gorakhpur trains in the timetable indicates that they have now been made permanent, the official noted.

The development has irked travellers to the Konkan region, more so because a passenger train till the coastal district of Ratnagiri used to originate at Dadar till the 2021, when it was shifted to Diva, purportedly to decongest the route for local trains.

“We have no problem if the railways run the Dadar-Ballia and Dadar-Gorakhpur trains, but they should not ignore the pleas of people from Konkan,” said Arvind Dudhvadkar, deputy leader of Shiv Sena (UBT) told HT.

Akshay Mahapadi from Konkan Railway Passenger Association echoed the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader, saying nothing was being done to their demand for reinstating the Diva-Ratnagiri till Dadar.

On Wednesday, a Shiv Sena (UBT) delegation comprising former MP Vinayak Raut, MLA Sunil Shinde and Dudhvadkar met CR officials and demanded that the Diva-Ratnagiri train be reinstated to its original route. They also submitted a letter to CR authorities, claiming they were assured on January 9 that steps would be taken to resume the passenger train from Dadar, yet nothing had been done.

“We have been requesting this on behalf of people from Konkan, but we feel that this request is being purposely ignored,” the letter said.

Dudhvadkar said CR authorities assured them of action during Wednesday’s meeting.

“We were told that our proposal will be sent to the Railway Board within a week. If there is no development on our demands, we will not allow the two (north India-bound) trains to depart on March 1,” he warned.

CR authorities said termination of Ratnagiri passenger train at Diva has helped improve local train services. “If the origin of the passenger train is shifted back to Dadar, it will impact the running of suburban locals,” said a CR official.