Rail Budget 2013: Goa gets 3 new trains & 'disappointment'

MARGAO: Even though three new trains for Goa have been announced on the Konkan Railway route, the railway budget, presented by Union minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Tuesday, fell drastically short of passenger expectations in the region.
Come the next financial year, Goa will have a daily Margao-Mangalore intercity express via Udupi and Karwar. It is among the 67 new express trains set to be introduced.A daily Margao-Ratnagiri passenger train also figures in the list of 26 new passenger trains, even as the proposed new Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) service between Margao and Karwar will add to the existing DEMU train on the route. Alao, among the 57 routes set to be extended is the one travelled by the Margao-Hazrat Nizamuddin Goa Sampark Kranti Express. Chandigarh will now be part of the route.
The new trains notwithstanding, the railway budget has ignored a long-standing demand to restart all the train services stopped in 1996 when the gauge conversion was undertaken. Among these were a daily train between Vasco and Belgaum via Londa. If restarted, it is expected to benefit locals, vegetable vendors and holiday makers. It would also help travellers catch connecting trains to other parts of the country from Belgaum.
Sources in the know said the new trains announced will make barely any significant change to Goa's rail connectivity and at best will only take the pressure off the Goa-Mumbai trains. They pointed out that the inadequate rail connectivity to Hyderabad, Bangalore, Tirupati, Velankanni, Ahmedabad, Shirdi, Jaipur, and Mumbai remains.
They further said that no proposal has been made to improve amenities at Goa's railway stations, which are in pathetic state. When trains run late, which happens often, passengers are left to fend for themselves and the monsoon is often a nightmarish period of travel as some stations lack proper shelters.

Step-motherly treatment
The step-motherly treatment meted out to Goa in the Railway budget is perhaps because there is no one to effectively take up the requirements of the state. The trains announced will barely address the problems of commuters. Most passengers wanting to travel out of Goa are stuck without many options, whether they want to travel to Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore or Hyderabad or to any other destination in the country. There are many trains passing through Goa but it is very difficult to get confirmed berths for Goans on these trains because the trains do not originate from Goa. It is high time that more trains originating from Goa are introduced to meet the demands of commuters of this region.
Budget 2013
Rail Budget 2013
Economic Survey 2013