Minister of State of Railways, Coal & Mines Raosaheb Patil Danve, flagged off the inaugural service of Train No. 17630 H.S Nanded – Pune Daily Express service at the Jalna railway station in the presence of public representatives and senior railway officials of South Central Railway (SCR) on Monday.
“This train from bi-weekly to daily will facilitate the socio-economic development of the Marathwada region and will cater to the needs of the people providing convenient and affordable train journey to all. There is a large volume of commuter movement towards western direction like Pune and Mumbai from Marathwada,” he said.
It covers around 650 km in 14 hours with stoppages at 11 stations and the train has been inducted with state-of-the-art LHB coaches, which will offer a comfortable journey experience to the passengers. CCTV cameras have been installed both inside and at the entry of the coaches to keep an eye on entry of unauthorised persons, informed railway officials.
Electrification
Electrification of railway lines in Maharashtra over South Central Railway (SCR) jurisdiction has been progressing at a brisk pace with one more section between Hingoli Deccan – Washim for a distance of 46.30 route km completed and commissioned as part of Akola – Purna electrification project. With this, a continuous stretch of 126 kms between Akola – Hingoli Deccan stations stands electrified, enabling seamless connectivity of rail lines.
The work was sanctioned in 2017-18 at an estimated cost of ₹277 crore and electrification between Akola - Lohogad of 34.5 route km has been completed in March 2021 and electrification of 45.3 Rkm between Lohogad - Washim has been completed during March, 2022. Electrification works in the balance section i.e., Hingoli Deccan - Purna for 84 kms are in progress.
General Manager in-charge Arun Kumar Jain has complimented staff of electric wing and the Nanded division for completing the works with dedication and commitment. He stated that, Akola – Purna electrification project is being specially monitored for completion within targeted dates for connecting many important stations in all directions, informed an official spokesman.
