Commuters threaten stir over Mumbai-Pune line

Commuters between Mumbai and Pune especially hundreds of them travelling between Karjat Lonavala and Panvel have threatened to protest after a number of trains were cancelled diverted and shortterminated between Mumbai and Pune due to extensive damage to the southeast ghat section this monsoonPassenger association member Nitin Parmar said ldquoPassengers travelling between Mumbai Karjat and Lonavala and Pune have been suffering due to the endless work being carried out by the Central Railway and it has led to extreme crowding and chaos on the linerdquoldquoTravelling has become a nightmare and there have been the festival crowd in addition to regular officegoers in the area who have been facing issues like suffocation and delays Senior citizens and women have been troubled toordquo Prabhakar Gangawane of Karjat Passengersrsquo Association told middayRailway officials said thay found that the ghat section had received one of the heaviest of rainfalls this season and over 700 boulders found to be dangerous had to be removed and work was also on to stabilise the rail line as safety has been the utmost priority The work will go on for the entire month and so the railways have had to limit the number of services along the stretchGangawane alleged services have been shut on two lines and that this is unprecedented with there being no hope of resuming services in the next few months ldquoHow long should we suffer There are no alternative arrangements and if things do not improve we will be intensifying our agitation and protest against the Mumbai divisionrdquo he said seeking at least shuttle services between Karjat and PanvelAnother regular commuter Akshay Marathe has been tweeting to the Central Railway CR every day for nearly a week ldquoThis is the fifth day that I have tweeted and there has been no action from the CR Please provide shuttle services for PanvelKarjat as all trains on this stretch have been cancelled for all of Novemberrdquo he had tweetedAkshay Marathes tweet to CRCR officials said it was difficult to roll back all cancellations now but a few trains will be restored soon They added that there was no plan as of now to run shuttle servicesldquoThe 28kmlong ghat section from Lonavala to Karjat had suffered extensive damage due to heavy rains Various works were undertaken at different patches leading to train traffic either being diverted shortterminated or cancelled Except for the restoration work of a bridge between Monkey HillNagnath UP line section all other work is done The restoration is being done in full swingrdquo Central Railwayrsquos chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar saidSutar said only Pragati Express and Panvel shuttle train have been cancelled ldquoPandharpurBijapurCSMT popular passenger train will be restored for a few daysrdquo he saidCancelled trainsAs per a note sent on October 30 10 trains have been cancelled two have been diverted via DaundManmad and 10 other trains have been shortterminated at PuneCancelled trains51027 MumbaiPandharpur passenger mdash cancelled till Nov 3051028 PandharpurMumbai passenger mdash cancelled till Nov 3051029 MumbaiBijapur passenger mdash cancelled till Nov 2751030 BijapurMumbai passenger mdash cancelled till Nov 2807617 NandedPanvel weekly special mdash cancelled till Nov 3007618 PanvelNanded weekly special mdash cancelled till Nov 2412126 PuneMumbai Pragati Express mdash cancelled till Nov 3012125 MumbaiPune Pragati Express mdash cancelled till Nov 3051317 PanvelPune passenger train mdash cancelled till Nov 3051318 PunePanvel passenger train mdash cancelled till Nov 30Diverted trains via DaundManmad11025 BhusavalPune Express from Nov 1 to 3011026 PuneBhusaval Express from Nov 1 to 30Trains shortoriginatedshortterminated11029 MumbaiKolhapur Koyna Express to shortoriginate from Pune till Nov 3011030 KolhapurMumbai Koyna Express to shortterminate at Pune till Nov 3017317 HubballiLTT Express to shortterminate at Pune till Nov 3017318 LTTHubballi Express to shortoriginate from Pune till Dec 112702 HyderabadMumbai Hussainsagar Express to shortterminate at Pune till Nov 3012701 MumbaiHyderabad Hussainsagar Express to shortoriginate from Pune till Nov 3018519 VisakhapatnamLTT Express to shortterminate at Pune till Nov 2918520 LTTVisakhapatnam Express to shortoriginate from Pune till Dec 117614 NandedPanvel Express to short terminate at Pune till Nov 2917613 PanvelNanded Express to shortterminate from Pune till Nov 3010No of trains cancelled02No of trains divertedCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates