Mumbai: Railways cancels age-old express trains Sahyadri and Godavari

A passenger gets screened at Dadar station. File pic

Central Railway has permanently cancelled age-old express trains like Mumbai-Kolhapur Sahyadri Express and Godavari Express, confirmed officials and added that low patronage and presence of other trains on the route were among key reasons. The move comes as a part of the larger plan to streamline services.

The railways said that after trains had been shut during COVID-19 lockdown, Indian Railways took a policy decision to work out a plan to streamline services nationwide. "The idea was to restart train operations in a fresh manner with a clean slate and with the help from IIT-Bombay, it has worked out a zero-based timetable (ZBTT). The timetable, though beneficial at a macro level, has led to cancellation of many traditional services and even halts to speed up trains."

The idea is to increase occupancy of poorly patronised trains and to reduce waitlists for trains that are in high demand. Once the timetable is operational, the journey time of long-distance trains will be reduced between half-an-hour and six hours on an average along with an increase in train speed. As per the criteria, for keeping a halt, there should be a minimum of 50 people embarking and disembarking in a day.

Activists and  politicians have called the move unfair. "In a race to streamline services, human and social elements of railway services have been overlooked. The Mumbai-Kolhapur Sahyadri Express, LTT-Manmad Godavari Super Fast Express have been popular and cancelling them is unfair. Instead of cancelling the services, the railways should consult local MPs and passenger associations," said Santosh Shinde, a passenger association member.

Commuters at Karjat and on WR have also protested as a number of trains have skipped halts in the process. "I met Minister of State for Railways Raosaheb Danve this week and explained how important the halt at Karjat was. He has acknowledged the issue," said Nitin Parmar, former member of zonal railway users' consultative committee.

Railway officials said the ZBTT had not been implemented yet but once done, it will see a huge improvement in services. "The ZBTT will ensure adequate corridor blocks for maintenance, increase throughput by providing freight corridors, improve punctuality and use of rolling stock and also provide convenient and efficient services to the passengers," a senior official said.

50
No. of people required to get on and off in a single day for halts