Ranchi Division ADRM Vijay Kumar said on Saturday that the decision of Dhanbad-Chandrapura stretch closure was not taken in a hurry or all of a sudden and a detailed report about the status of fire beneath the line and passenger safety concerns had been sent from South-Eastern Railway to the Railway Ministry in February this year itself.
He also expressed hope about resumption of most important amongst cancelled trains, including much sought Ranchi-Jainagar Express train at the earliest.
“It is not that the government took the decision about closure of the (Dhanbad-Chandrapura) stretch overnight. It was closed because it became inevitable keeping passengers’ safety in mind. Neither the fire beneath the line is new, nor was the discourse of seeking alternatives of the stretch. However, a detailed report was sent regarding this to the Ministry of Railways in February this year itself after a couple of unfortunate events around, and officials capable of taking such decisions must have taken the decision anytime then only,” said Kumar after a two-member Passengers Amenities Committee (PAC) reporting directly to the Minister of Railways made a visit to the Ranchi Railway Station.
Notably, the team that went for inspections of passenger amenities at Ranchi Railway Station on Saturday was not the team which everyone was expecting on the day.
After all round protests against closure of Dhanbad-Chandrapura railway track, the Railway Board had decided to send a high-level committee to Ranchi on Saturday after Chief Minister Raghubar Das met with Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in New Delhi on Friday to discuss the feasibility of diverting routes of 18 cancelled trains from or through Ranchi via Dhanbad-Chandrapura to anywhere.
However, the two-member PAC team consisting of Ashok Tripathi and lP Jaisawal visited the waiting rooms, mechanized laundry, public toilets and other places on Ranchi Railway Station platform along with Kumar, Senior DCM Neeraj Kumar and other officials only to find most of the things in place.
This visit was a part of ongoing process of the Railway Ministry to come across ground realities of passenger amenities on as many railway stations in the country as possible with 17-member high level team, including Railway Board Chairman divided in many groups.
“I have visited at least 168 stations since the task was started little over a year ago. I can say that Ranchi Railway Station is doing excellent on most of the counts. The management team here is much active. However, there is shortage of resources and they are being taken care of, also because Ranchi Railway Station is going to become world class station in another three months,” said Tripathi.
He also met with representatives of Jharkhand Mithila Manch and others demanding resumption of Ranchi-Jainagar Express Train. Tripathi assured them of taking the issue to Prabhu. “I am sure the train will get restored through alternative route within three months,” said Tripathi.