Trial run for semi-high speed Mum-Pune train from next wk

Pune: After the successful trial run for six days by Central Railway of Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai Intercity Express on ‘Push-Pull’ system, now the Railway Board Member (Rolling Stock) Rajesh Agarwal on Wednesday said in Mumbai that the Railway was planning to explore the possibility of running such semi-high speed trains between Mumbai and Pune, Nashik and Vadodara.

Agarwal was in Mumbai to review works carried out by the Central Railway and Western Railway. “We want to check whether the same train can be replicated for Mumbai to Pune or Mumbai to Nashik or Mumbai to Baroda (Vadodara). Trial runs will begin next week,” he said.

He said, “We are going to start trial runs from next week on the Vande-Bharat pattern. One AC-EMU rake and one non-AC MEMU rake will be given to the Central and Western Railways. If the trial goes as per plan, we can reduce the travel time between Mumbai to Pune and Nashik to within two hours.”

The Vande Bharat Express has reduced the travel time between New Delhi and Varanasi by 40 per cent. However, he said the final decision has been not taken and they are going to explore the possibility.

Lakhs of passengers travel every day from Pune to Mumbai by early morning trains. 

The trains take 3 hours 15 minutes to reach Mumbai. The passengers and activists are demanding high-speed trains like Vande Bharat Express between these two cities, which will save around an hour. 

Sakal Times had reported on this issue on January 31 after interaction with Central Railway General Manager DK Sharma. He told Sakal Times that this (Pune-Mumbai) route cannot be ignored and the demand of the high-speed train will be fulfilled.

“The demand for Pune’s passengers will be fulfilled. They will enjoy the high-speed train journey,” Sharma had told Sakal Times on January 31 this year.