Railway Minister Piyush Goyel ruled out Pitline at Chikalthana

Railway Minister Piyush Goyel in a reply to MP Chandrakant Khaire’s letter has ruled out the plan of introducing a new pitline in Aurangabad, which according to the railway officials, was a pre-requisite for introducing new trains from the city and also for connecting the city to other important stations across the country.

The South Central Railways (SCR) had proposed a new pit-line at Chikalthana, a move that could be a big boost to rail connectivity in the city. Considered to have a great impact on junctions ability of handling trains, pit-line is basically a facility for carrying out inspection and routine maintenance work of carriage parts of railway.

“A new pit line at Chikalthana (Aurangabad) is not required in view of the availability of adequate train examination facilities at Nanded, which is sufficient for the present level of traffic. Therefore the  proposal of new pitline at Chikalthana has not been considered feasible”, Piyush Goyal in a written reply to MP Chandrakant Khaire’s letter.

Expressing  concern on this issue, Railway activist Omprakash Varma said “It is very unfortunate that in almost every budget we are denied of our righteous share of trains and the railways reply that the new long route trains are not given to Aurangabad because it does not have its own pit line, which is essential for carrying out the maintenance and repairing work of the trains. So we started demanding for a pit line in Aurangabad, following which the senior railway officials promised us of taking the matter with the higher authorities and getting the pit line sanctioned.  But now Railway Minister has ruled out  Proposed Pitline at Chikalthana, means neither are we are going to get the new long route trains, nor will any train be started from the city,” added Verma.

CityKatta’s take on this issue:Railways in Marathwada and particularly in Aurangabad has changed little in past seven decades.
Apart from converting the meter gauge into broad gauge and renovating few station buildings, railways in Marathwada has been neglected over the years.The city is constantly losing its tourism related revenue due the lack of connectivity with other important parts of the country and every year the tourism business is taking a heavy toll.