Will railway budget stay on city track?

MUMBAI: Travelling in a local during rush hours can be a harrowing experience and many city commuters will vouch for that. On the eve of Railway Budget, a more comfortable and safe commute tops the wish-list of Mumbaikars.
Punctuality of services on Western Railway (WR) has hit a low, while Harbour Line trains from Andheri have been taking around 10 minutes more to reach CST.To add to the commuters’ woes are dirty suburban stations, most of which lack even basic facilities such as adequate toilets or clean drinking water.
Railway minister Mamata Banerjee, while presenting last year’s budget, had selected several stations on Mumbai’s suburban network that were to be developed into ‘Adarsh stations’ (see box) by 31 March 2010. The idea was to equip these stations with basic facilities like drinking water, adequate toilets, catering services, waiting rooms and dormitories especially for woman passengers and better signages.
A railway official, on the condition of anonymity, said that the concept of ‘Adarsh stations’ was not new; earlier the stations were adopted under the ‘Model station’ scheme. “A few more stations were added to the list last year,” he added.
A year has passed since the scheme was launched, but commuters are still to see the results. “Most pay-and-use toilets are filthy. I wish more would be done on this front,” said Delilah Kulkarni, an HR executive from Malad.
WR commuters complained that efforts are few and far between. “Though a new platform was thrown open to the public at Borivli station recently, things haven’t changed much. Trains are late by 15-20 minutes everyday. Trying to board a train during peak hours is a nightmarish experience,” said Anand Sonawane from Borivli.
Sion-based social worker R Sridhar said that “commuters would like no change in ticket prices”. “Also, I hope the railway minister will announce an increase in the number of services and assign priority to completion of pending projects.” Shailendra Kamble, convenor of Pravas Adhikar Andolan Samiti, said the Mumbai Urban Transport project should be expedited soon so that commuters could travel better.