Proposal of one more Rajdhani for Western Railway, and none for Central Railway, has angered rail activists, with all of them crying "gross injustice"
Representation picture
Proposal of one more Rajdhani for Western Railway, and none for Central Railway, has angered rail activists, with all of them crying "gross injustice".
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WR's new Rajdhani Express, likely to be launched by Diwali, will ply from Bandra to Nizamuddin station in Delhi within 13 hours.
The matter was brought up during CR Mumbai's Divisional Railway Users' Consultative Committee meeting yesterday at CSMT. Committee member Subhash Gupta from Kurla said, "A proposal needs to be sent from Mumbai division to headquarters about a Rajdhani Express."
"WR is set to get one more, which is unfair. CR commuters will be left high and dry again," said software analyst Amol P Nikam, who has been spearheading the campaign 'Rajdhani from CR' for the past two years. Nikam and his friends, Amit Phatak and Sriram V Iyer, have roped in several MPs and railway activists to try and get a formal proposal in place.
"Travelling to Mumbai Central or Borivli to catch these trains is a nightmare for people living on the Harbour and Trans-harbour line and in suburbs beyond Thane," said Phatak.
Support from MPs
"Sixteen trains run between Mumbai and Delhi. But only three dailies go via CR, taking over 24 hours. A couple of weeklies are allotted to CR and people prefer those. This shows the immense potential" MP from Kalyan, Shrikant Shinde stated in his letter to the railway minister.
Nashik MP Hemant Godse, and Dr Subhash Bhamre, Dhule MP and Union Minister of State for Defence, also support the campaign.
Zonal officials in the railways said a plan could be drawn up on the feasibility but nothing could be committed to at this stage.
13
No. of hours to Delhi in new Rajdhani
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