Maharashtra Off The Track

While Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnav has promised Mumbai-Pune railway travel time to be slashed to mere 48 minutes, most of the rest of Maharashtra still continues to be out of the Railway Ministry’s purview despite repeated demands over the last several decades. While Pune gets a high speed corridor for Hyderabad and Mumbai gets a bullet train for Ahmedabad, citizens and railway activists ask what do Marathwada, Vidarbha, Western Maharashtra, Konkan and all the other places in Maharashtra get?

“We have been demanding trains that will connect different regions of Maharashtra for a very long time. Earlier, most people in the state had no option to travel by road and rely on the bus. But railway travel is much safer and more convenient. However, every year, they [railway ministry] feel that if they give more railway facilities to Mumbai, they have satisfied Maharashtra. But is Mumbai the entire state?” questions Harsha Shah, Chairperson, Railway Pravasi Group.

This year, Vaishnaw has announced a budgetary allocation of Rs 23,926 crore for Maharashtra in the Union Budget 2026-27. The plan includes new high speed railway corridors between Mumbai-Pune and Pune-Hyderabad. It also includes a freight corridor from West Bengal, travelling through Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Surat.

“But will these routes actually help the maximum Marathi, Maharashtrian people?” asks Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (previously Aurangabad) based Railway Activist Anant Borkar, adding, “For example, two years ago, they had discussed a railway route between Nanded and Nagpur. This route would have definitely benefited the Maharashtrian common man. What happened to that route? There is absolutely no discussion about it now.”

Citizens’ demands ignored?

Speaking about Marathwada, which has some of the largest outward migration in the state, he says there are barely any trains connecting major cities of Marathwada with each other as well as other regions in Maharashtra.

“Several associations in Marathwada as well as Vidarbha have been demanding more trains at convenient timings for the people in Maharashtra for years. We need more and better railway connectivity with the rest of Maharashtra. But to no avail,” Borkar says.

He points out that Ch. Sambhajinagar is one of the major cities in Marathwada and is a growing business centre. However, it has been repeatedly excluded from new railway projects, he complains.

“We need trains to connect to Nashik, Surat, Jodhpur, which will immensely benefit the people, the traders in Sambhajinagar and surrounding areas. But we do not see that happening. Another example is the train Ajanta Express that runs between Manmad in Maharashtra and Kacheguda in Telangana. If they had made an effort to bring this train a little further to Nashik or Dhule, it would have provided a much larger connectivity for people in Marathwada as well as northern Maharashtra to each other as well as to South India. But they did not listen to anyone,” Borkar says.

The demand for a railway on these routes does exist, as the road connectivity continues to remain tedious and risky. The few trains that do run between some parts of Marathwada and Pune are often full, with reservations hard;y available. Especially, during holidays or at the time of festivals, not only the general coaches, but also other coaches are filled with passengers forced to travel without reservation. 

“They also need to create a high speed corridor between Mumbai-Pune-Nashik, as planned earlier,” Amol Deshpande, Founder and Convener of Pimpri Chinchwad Citizen Forum, said. He added, “We have also suggested RRTS/Semi high speed Railway network to connect Pune to Mumbai, Nashik, Ahilyanagar, Ch Sambhajinagar, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Solapur, Kokan, Nagpur.”

Activists say that while the Railways Ministry promises big budgets, routes that actually matter are often neglected or need to be fought for to get approved.

“There is only one train connecting Pune to Konkan region. We had to fight tooth and nail to get Ernakulum Express started, which connects Pune to Konkan Railway route,” Shah says.

While the Union Government has earmarked Rs 3,244 crore for the Kolhapur–Vaibhavwadi railway project, which will connect Western Maharashtra to Konkan, Deshpande said that it would have been better if a line was planned from Pune-Tamhini Ghaat instead.

“It would have provided better connectivity. Moreover, in the early 1900s, when Mulshi Dam was being constructed, Tata Power had laid a narrow gauge railway line between Chinchwad and Mulshi. This could have been converted to broad gauge and connected to Konkan via Tamhini Ghat. Chinchwad would have been a junction. But they did not go for this,” Deshpande said.

Inconvenient timings and stations

He also said that his group has been demanding that Chinchwad station be made a passenger terminal for several years.

“Pimpri-Chinchwad, a city with a population of nearly 30 lakh, has no passenger terminal, despite people’s demand for the same. Barely four to five Express trains halt in Pimpri Chinchwad. For the rest of the trains, people here have to travel all the way to Pune Junction. It is very inconvenient, especially at night. If they can make Hadapsar a terminal, why not Chinchwad,” Deshpande says.

Borkar also points out that halts and timings of these halts are not planned as per the convenience of people, while starting trains in Marathwada.

“We had demanded a Vande Bharat from Sambhajinagar to Mumbai. However, they started it from Nanded. Now it reached Sambhajinagar at a very inconvenient time and hence, is not used as much as it would have been, had it started from Sambhajinagar. They don’t listen to people’s actual demands and then say, trains are running empty,” Borkar says.

He adds that most trains running through Marathwada, especially the long distance ones that people have to rely on, have halts at very inconvenient timings, stating that the convenience of passengers from Marathwada is not given any thought to.

“Now, since Hadapsar Terminal has been developed near Pune Station, they have decided that all the trains coming from Marathwada would halt at Hadapsar, which is on the outskirts of Pune city. Many trains coming from Sambhajinagar and other parts of Marathwada reach Hadapsar at odd hours. Several passengers have complained that it is almost impossible to find any means of transport to reach the city at a reasonable rate from Hadapsar at those hours. I don’t want to be regionalist, but on the other hand, trains coming from Bihar still halt at Pune. Why this treatment to Marathi people?,” Borkar questions.

He adds that in order to make justice to people’s demands regarding railways, there is a need for better coordination between the railway divisions and the MPs of the constituencies that they cover. “We don’t see that happening, though,” he sighs.