Aurangabad, Dec 23:
No passenger train is running from Aurangabad at present. The special trains that are currently running are all express trains. Only reserved ticket holders are allowed to board the train. This is causing huge inconvenience to ordinary railway passengers. Many are forced to make long-distance road trips putting their lives in danger.
Railway traffic was disrupted due to the corona. Sachkhand Express was started from June and after that 7 other special trains were also started. Aurangabad has a large number of daily commuters from Rotegaon, Parsoda, Karanjgaon, Lasur, Potul, Badnapur, Jalna and other places. But the lack of passenger trains is causing inconvenience to these passengers. At present Sachkhand, Devagiri, Nandigram, Rajyarani, Ajanta Express, Narsapur-Nagarsol, Kakinada-Shirdi Express are running from Aurangabad. Also, the Aurangabad-Hyderabad passenger train, which was a passenger train before covid, is now running as an express. Nagarsol-Nanded passenger, Jalna-Nagarsol Demu, Nizamabad-Pune, Pune-Nizamabad, Daund-Nanded, Manmad-Kacheguda, Kacheguda-Manmad are currently closed. When Nizamabad-Pune, Daund-Nanded, Manmad-Kacheguda start, the express trains will run. Therefore, the inconvenience to the passengers will be permanent.
Life-threatening journey by road
Santoshkumar Somani, president, Railway Pravasi Sena said, "People who commute for business, work, education, treatment now have to travel by road. Triple seat travel is done by bike to save money. Passenger trains need to start to put an end to this life-threatening travel by passengers."
Passengers can''t afford
It takes only Rs 10 to reach Aurangabad by passenger train from Lasur. But since these trains are closed, the travellers have to come and go by bus or motorcycle. It costs Rs 60 to 70 for one way fair. Poor passengers cannot afford to shell out such money on a daily basis.