The decision of South East Central Railway (SECR) to discontinue with the Raipur-Korba Intercity Express has stirred up a hornets’ nest with the workers of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s Raipur district wing demanding re-introduction of the train on the route.
The SECR had earlier cited poor response from the passengers and not generating sufficient revenue to run this train as reasons behind the decision.
The citizens were demanding a superfast train on this route for quite a long time. Though, the railways also considered the same and introduced 08796 Korba-Raipur-Korba Superfast train on February 28 but only for a short span of three months.
A number of BJP workers led by the party’s Raipur district wing president Ashok Pandey on Thursday handed over a memorandum to the Additional Divisional Railway Manager (ADRM) for restarting the Intercity Express.
Pandey claimed that time-table of the train was suitable and it was getting a number of passengers including students, Government and private employees, traders and women passengers.
The Railways abruptly took a decision to discontinue this train, which is causing huge inconvenience to the passengers, claimed Pandey. He expressed disappointment over the step and urged the authorities to restart the train. “If the authorities fail to restart the train as soon as possible, BJP workers will stage demonstration on the roads” Pandey said.
He added that despite generating highest revenue, the South-East-Central (Bilaspur) Railway zone had been facing apathy from the Railway Board for giving new trains and making available other facilities to the passengers. Pandey also sent a copy of the memorandum to the Union Ministry of Railways for looking into the matter.