Rly min has nothing in kitty for Thane zone, commuters upset

Thane: Once again, the railway budget has proved to be disappointing for the commuters from Thane and beyond. Spare for the Kalwa-Airoli elevated link that is part of MUTP-3 project and planned redevelopment of three stations, the suburbs didn’t get any big ticket projects despite showing good rate of growth in terms of revenue and commuter footfalls.
Railway revenue records for the third quarter of 2014-15 fiscal year state that suburbs like Diva and Titwala have registered phenomenal growth rates in the last one year compared to other stations on the Mumbai suburban network. While there has been a steady growth in number of commuters here, the inadequate number of services to suburbs like Kasara, Karjat from Thane has been highlighted time and again. The same was also presented to the railway minister during his visit to Thane in January and activists had hoped for a development.
Thane station that has historic importance was supposed to be modelled into a world class one year back but there has been no development on these lines. “The okay for MUTP-3 has given some hopes for some projects like Kalyan-Karjat-Kasara additional lines and the Kalwa-Airoli link,” said railway activist Nandkumar Deshmkuh.
Meanwhile at Diva, commuters and activists also expressed displeasure over the complete sidelining in the budget. “The apathy of Diva was highlighted in the media and even the authorities acknowledged it. We were expecting that the problems of Diwa station would be looked into and we could get some services or even halts for Konkan trains but nothing of it has come up. This budget comes as a complete disappointment for us,” said Adesh Bhagat of the Diva railway passenger’s association.
Shiv Sena MP Rajan Vichare expressed his disappointment over the neglect shown by the ministry towards Thane and suburbs. “We were expecting major projects like Kopri alternate station to feature in the budget speech but sadly it didn’t. The station definitely deserves better infrastructure than what it has presently,” he said.