The cancellation of trains like Ajni-LTT, Nagpur-Bhusawal, and Pune-Amravati will hit passengers in Vidarbha hard
Nagpur: There are no new trains for Nagpur and Vidarbha in the new timetable released by the Indian Railways after a gap of over three years. Instead, the region has lost eight trains that have been withdrawn and will no more be available for passengers, according to a report in local daily Times of India.
The new timetable was released after a gap of more than three years. The railway timetable was not released due to three consecutive waves of the Covid pandemic when minimum train operations were in place, the report said.
According to the ToI report, the highlight of the timetable released by Shivaji Sutar, Central Railway Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO), is that there are no new trains or extensions of trains from Nagpur. Besides, the frequency of trains has also not been introduced.
The Mail/Express trains that have been withdrawn include Bhusawal-Nagpur (22111/22112), Ajni-LTT (11201/11202), Nagpur-Rewa (22135/22136), Pune-Amravati (11405/11406) and LTT-Kazipet Tadoba Express (22127/22128). The Nandigram Express has already been surrendered to the South Central Railway during the pandemic.
The passenger trains that have been cancelled include Nagpur-Bhusawal (51285/51286), and Amravati-Badnera Intercity. Two Mail/Express trains between Nagpur-Jaipur (22175/22176) and Nagpur-Pune (22141/22142) have been renumbered and upgraded to the superfast category. The Jabalpur-Amravati Express (12159/12160) will now originate and terminate at Nagpur. Similarly, the Ajni-Kazipeth Passenger (57135/57136) will now originate and terminate at Balharshah. The Nagpur-Itarsi passenger will terminate at Amla and will originate from there only. The new timetable has already come into effect from October 1, 2022.
According to Basant Kumar Shukla, General Secretary, Bharatiya Yatri Kendra (BYK), in view of the cancellation of several trains, the message is loud and clear that the Indian Railways no longer wants to operate loss-making trains. As politicians in the Vidarbha region are mute spectators, such decisions are easy to take. There is no activism. Raipur is smaller than Nagpur but there are so many originating trains from there, he lamented.
“The cancellation of Nagpur-Rewa Express is understandable as an alternative train between Itwari-Rewa has started, but cancellation of trains like Ajni-LTT, Nagpur-Bhusawal, and Pune-Amravati will hit passengers hard,” said Brij Bhushan Shukla, member of Zonal Railway Users’ Consultative Committee (ZRUCC), Central Railway.
