Title - New trains unlikely for Pune in next railway budget

Pune is unlikely to get new trains in the forthcoming railway budget as general manager of Central Railway Subodh Jain said that due to the lack of infrastructure at Pune, the authorities are not able to send proposals of starting new trains to the railway ministry.Jain was in Pune on Friday for the annual inspection and he inaugurated platform number six which has been extended to accommodate trains having 22 compartments. Speaking about infrastructural issues at the Pune railway station, Jain said, “Due to the lack of infrastructure at Pune, we are not able to send proposals for starting new trains from Pune. Looking at the present scenario of the Pune railway station, we can only increase the number of coaches to accommodate more passengers. But it is not enough to fulfill the requirement of a big city like Pune.”Jain added, “We are planning to set up additional terminals at Shivajinagar and Hadapsar from where we can operate some of the long route trains to ease the pressure at Pune railway station. If the plan of setting up terminals at Shivajingar and Hadapsar comes into effect, we can start a shuttle service from Shivajingar to Hadapsar to help passengers.""The plan is ready and we have already received sanction for the Shivajinagar terminal. We are having a dialogue with local bodies for setting up a terminal at Hadapsar,” Jain said.

Installation of CCTV cameras likely to be delayed The plan of installing 46 modern CCTV cameras at the Pune railway station is likely to be delayed as the Central Railway administration is facing problems in issuing tenders for the contract.

At present, Pune railway station has 34 CCTV cameras but the railway administration has decided to replace all these cameras with 46 modern cameras which will cover the entire Pune railway station area. However, the process of replacement of existing cameras has been delayed.

Subodh Jain, general manager of Central Railway said, “These cameras will have advance software which will do an analysis of people coming to the railway station and will also indicate a person who is often visiting the railway station. These cameras will be useful for identifying touts also.”

However, Jain said, “There are some issues regarding issuing tenders. At present, a company from Israel and one Indian company are in the race to grab the contract. The Israeli company is renowned for its security measures. But the Indian company is promising to provide similar quality of software. Hence, the authorities are not able to finalise any particular company. The CCTVs were expected to be installed at Pune railway station by March next year but it is likely to delay by a month or two.” puneinbox@dnaindia.net

DRMs will monitor cleanliness Showing concern over lack of cleanliness at the railway station, Subodh Jain said, “We have selected seven railway stations in the state including Pune, where cleanliness will be monitored by divisional railway manager (DRM). Apart from Pune, the other stations are Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Dadar, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Kalyan, Nagpur and Nashik. Divisional railway managers of these stations will submit current status of the railway stations to the head office in a fortnight.” Jain also mentioned that the contract work for cleanliness will be outsourced.

Electrification work inaugurated Jain inaugurated the long pending Pune-Daund electrification work at Loni on Friday. The total cost of the electrification project is Rs170 crore. The work is expected to be completed in 24 months. Once the electrification work is completed, the Pune

division of the Central Railway will be able to start local trainsfrom Lonavla to Daund.