Against backdrop of likely commissioning of new railway route that could shorten distance on North-South travel in country, a sense of unease has gripped vast North Indian population in city as they fear Nagpur Junction might lose some trains. A new railway route Gondia-Jabalpur (a distance of 244 kms) could be opened for commercial rail traffic on December 25, the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Though Railways has not made any official announcement as yet, some indications were dropped when an exercise in identifying trains for plying on new route was held sometimes back.

 

The new route would provide an alternative for travelling from down South to upwards in Northern parts of country shaving off nearly 504 kms of travel that would result in savings of nearly six hours in travel. The new railway line would be alternative to famed Grand Trunk route that so far handled all North-South-North moving trains. But as most of the trains had to reach Jabalpur via Itarsi, the merry go round was taxing for one and all, the Railways as well as travellers. The Railway Board it is claimed has identified a few pair of trains that would ply on new route to Jabalpur. That means these long distance passenger carrying trains, Mail/Express would get diverted right from Ballarshah after entering Central Railway's Nagpur Division and move ahead to Gondia and from there to Balaghat and ahead to Jabalpur. This would mean these trains would no longer come to Nagpur Junction thereby putting travellers heading to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar at loss.

 

Nothing wrong in the move as Railways goes by logic of shortest route as same ensures savings of money to travellers, lesser congestion on route. However for vast North Indian population in Nagpur city and in rural parts of district this move could further limit availability of seats on trains, feels Satish Yadav, Member, Zonal Railway Users Consultative Committee (ZRUCC). But he feels that when an assured travellers are available at Nagpur Junction and they are growing continuously Railways should compensate the loss of these trains with introduction of new services. The North Indian population in city alone is around six lakh, plus major workforce in Western Coalfileds Limited (WCL) mines in Kamptee, Kanhan, Umrer, Saoner areas is from Bihar and UP. Most of these persons have not cut off their contact with their motherland and continuously undertake travel to native places. Yadav said as per information some of the trains like 12791 Secunderabad-Danapur, 12578 Mysore-Darbhanga, 12390 Chennai Egmore-Gaya, 17610 Purna-Patna, 16359 Ernakulam-Patna, 12578 Mysore-Darbhanga. Most of these trains run via Jabalpur and currently go via Itarsi and hence they may be diverted through shorter route.

 

He said against this Railway Board should extend Amravati-Jabalpur and Nagpur-Rewa till Allahabad or Benaras to compensate for the loss of North bound trains. The current stoppages of these trains makes no sense as from there North Indian populace does not have any further connectivity to their native places. A cursory look at train booking reveals that through the year these North bound trains have waiting list. During the holiday and festival season confirmed tickets are hard to get. So by diverting these trains even Railways might not get assured traffic on the route and those from Nagpur and region would further be at loss due to lesser connectivity. Currently long distance buses operate but their charges are quite hefty and hence Yadav said Railway Board should take a sympathetic look and ensure people from North India do not have to suffer for lack of connectivity.