Train to Pune brings cheers to Amravati citizens

AMRAVATI: The much-awaited demand of Amravati-Pune express was fulfilled by the railway ministry on Wednesday after an announcement to this effect was made during the railway budget. However, the train is biweekly, and citizens expect it to be made a daily train.
Although the budget announced by railway minister Dinesh Trivedi on Wednesday did not fulfil the demand of a DRM office at Amravati, but it has announced much awaited Amravati-Pune train via Latur and linked Amravati with two trains including Indore-Yasvantpur and Jaipur-Secunderabad.
The demand for the Amravati-Pune train picked up in the last decade since most students and youngsters have rushed to Pune for jobs and education and there are very limited trains for Pune. Even these are from Badnera railway station. Private bus operators took full advantage of this paucity. In the festival season, bus fares to Pune would shoot up dramatically. Therefore, when Amravati railway station was developed, the demand for the Pune train intensified.
When President Pratibha Patil had come to Amravati for the inauguration of Amravati railway station, MLA Raosaheb Shekhawat and MP Anand Adsul highlighted the demand for the train. Trivedi, who was present at the function, had promised Shekhawat and Adsul to look into the matter and kept his word.
Talking to TOI, Sachin Pawar, a regular commuter to Pune, said that considering the passenger load to Pune, the government should make the train a daily affair.
Pranav, a final year engineering student, said, "I will shift to Pune after my graduation and this train will definitely help me. Every year, thousands of students shift to Pune and private bus owners exploit their situation. This train will give some relief to passengers. If the government makes the train daily, it would be like icing on the cake," he said.
Another citizen Prasad Deshmukh too said the train should be made daily. "It has also been observed that the government announces the train but it takes a long time for implementation. Now that the government has announced the train, it should be started as early as possible," he said.
Kiran Paturkar of MIDC association welcomed the announcement of the new train but lamented that the demand of DRM office at Amravati and Central Railway office at Nagpur was ignored. "Like chamber of commerce, railway should have given representation to a member of the industrial association on the railway committee," said Paturkar.
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