Pune-Daund rail electrification to complete by mid-October
Local rail service between Pune and Daund may finally see the light of day as electrification work of the 76-km stretch is almost complete. The system is expected to be functional by mid-October, officials with Pune Division have said. The project was announced by the Railway Ministry in 2006 and it almost took a decade to finish due to budgetary hurdles. Divisional Railway Manager B K Dadabhoy said although the final plan of operations of the trains will be decided by the Railway Board, the Division for its part has sent a proposal to start a shuttle service which will run on electrical power.
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can be called a ‘Fast Local’ as it will reach much quicker than those running on diesel. By mid-October electrification will be complete following which trains using the route can avail of the service,” said Dadabhoy.
Railway officials said that the completion of the project will benefit thousands of commuters, both daily passengers and those travelling on long distance trains. The electrification project has cost the railway Rs 167 crore.
Railways intensifies drive against illegal vendors
Railway administration has intensified the drive against the vendors who illegally operate in the premises of Pune Railway Station. While it has met with success in some places, in others the officers implementing the drive have faced irate vendors.
There have also been incidents when the vendors turned violent and threatened to harm senior officers supervising the drive, officials said.
“There have been instances when our officers faced open threats from the unauthorised vendors. For Instance, a few days ago Public Relations Officer who was heading the Jagate Raho squad was surrounded by these vendors who started abusing and threatening. He somehow managed to escape. Notwithstanding all this, we are taking a very strong view of the encroachment and unauthorised vending in railway premises,” said Dadabhoy.
Cleanliness Week at Pune Division
Railways carried out various cleanliness-related activities at the station which also involved imposing fines on those littering. In the last five days 712 violators were booked and a fines totalling Rs 70,800 were collected from them.
“We have also installed as many as 707 dustbins at various stations in Pune Division. We will further intensify the cleanliness campaign. To improve the scenario we are also taking feedback from the rail users and so far have collected over 10,000 filled feedback forms (7,524 on stations and 2954 aboard the trains),” said Dadabhoy.
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