RailEnquiry

NASHIK: The Rail Parishad has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) against the Union railway minister and Railway Board for failing to start the Rajya Rani Express till Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) in Mumbai, as promised in Parliament, which has resulted in loss of public money, and has affected the safety and security of passengers."It is only after a detailed study and with much responsibility any statement is made on the floor of the House. When a minister says or promises something in the House, the minster cannot roll back on the promise, without an announcement in the House. Nashikites were promised a train to Mumbai so that office-goers would reach CST by 10 am, but that never happened and instead the train was shifted to Kurla (LTT) terminus. This is a pure breach of trust," parishad president Bipin Gandhi said.Nashik and Pune are equidistant from Mumbai but Nashikites have only one dedicated train in the morning that reaches Mumbai after 10.45 am, while Pune has at least four reaching CST before 10 am. "The railways' treatment of Nashikites is sheer arbitrary, discriminatory and violates rights of equality, to practice any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business anywhere. We have therefore filed the PIL to seek justice for more than 10,000 Nashikites who almost every day travel to Mumbai for various purposes and in the process risk their lives attempting to catch the Panchavati Express," Gandhi said.

The destination of the Manmad-CST Rajya Rani Express was shifted to Kurla before being flagged off on March 10. The train is highly inconvenient for passengers travelling to Mumbai and it was evident from the number of passengers it carried. "The train hardly carries more than 10% passengers going to Mumbai, while most still hit the platform for the Panchavati Express as passengers travelling by the Rajya Rani reach at 11 am, that is 15 minutes after the Panchavati Express," the PIL claimed, stressing that it had also resulted in a loss of crores of rupees to the railways.

The Railways had replied to letters sent by Rail Parishad from time-to-time. However, the Parishad has also tried to explain measures to make the rake more efficient by making it a double utility which will not only provide another train for travelling between two cities, but will also solve the parking problem. Even that solution was overlooked, Gandhi claimed adding that after all the moves failed, PIL was the ultimate solution to the problem.