Danve travels in Mumbai local train, reviews passenger amenities

Junior Railway Minister Raosaheb Danve travelled in a suburban train in Mumbai on Tuesday morning to assess passenger amenities and is scheduled to review the bullet train and Delhi-JNPT Dedicated Freight Corridor projects during his first visit to the city after taking charge of the new portfolio.

Danve boarded a Kurla-bound slow local train at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in south Mumbai at 11 am and later alighted at Dadar station, Railway officials said.

During the 20 to 25-minute-long journey, he interacted with passengers and media persons, they said.

The minister then inspected various passenger amenities at Dadar, one of the busiest railway stations in the metropolis, the officials said.

Later, Danve cancelled his scheduled visit to adjoining Thane and travelled by another suburban train to reach Matunga, which entered record books three years ago for being the first railway station with all-women staff.

Danve is visiting Mumbai for the first time after taking charge as Union Minister of State of Railways, Coal and Mines in July.

At Dadar, Danve flagged off a Konkan-bound train booked on FTR (Full Tariff Rate) through the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).

Maharashtra BJP MLA Nitesh Rane, who was present at the Dadar station along with other party leaders, told reporters that the FTR train, named the ''Modi Express'', was going to ferry around 1,800 people to the Konkan region for the Ganesh festival beginning from September 10.

On Wednesday, Danve is scheduled to review the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train and Delhi-JNPT (Mumbai) Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) projects.

The western DFC is a 1,525 km corridor between Delhi and JNPT (Mumbai) for faster movement of freight trains.

During an interaction with media persons at the Central Railway headquarters at CSMT, Danve said in Gujarat and Rajasthan 100 per cent land acquisition work has been completed for DFC, but in Maharashtra it is only 27 per cent.

''Hence, I am going to conduct a meeting with the Konkan (region) commissioner and collectors of Palghar, Thane and Raigad districts. I have kept presentation about the bullet train thereafter,'' Danve said.

He denied suggestions that land acquisition for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project has been delayed because a non-BJP government is in power in Maharashtra.

''Every state government wants development and therefore there won't be any problem in land acquisition,'' the BJP leader said.

Danve said he will try to understand problems related to land acquisition and maintained no state government should create obstacles in execution of development projects in their jurisdiction.

Before the media interaction, Danve reviewed the ambitious CSMT redevelopment project and tried to understand the issues related to it.

Danve said across the county redevelopment of 68 stations have been planned on PPP (public-private partnership) model and these include CSMT, Thane, Mumbai Central and Dadar stations. Redevelopment of Bhopal and Gandhinagar stations has already been completed, the minister said.

Danve said in redevelopment of stations, various agencies in Maharashtra, including state government bodies, face some issues and to resolve them, he has called a meeting.

These authorities, including MBPT (Mumbai Port Trust), BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation), MMRDA (Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority) and state government officials have been called for the meeting, he said.

''They have been given a time limit within which they have to resolve the issues. If some issues still remain unresolved, I will speak to the chief minister or ministers of the departments concerned as we have to redevelop stations in Mumbai along with other stations,'' Danve said.

Danve cancelled his scheduled visit to Thane and travelled by a suburban train to Matunga.

According to officials, the minister felicitated women staff of Matunga railway station and interacted with them before returning to CSMT for a meeting.

''He enquired about the challenges faced by women staff and praised them for overcoming those challenges with grit and determination,'' a Railway release said.