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Passengers not happy with the time table of new A\C Service in Western Railway: Mumbai

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2 years ago

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On Monday, the city saw history repeat itself. Chaos reigned on Western Railway routes, as office-goers lost their regular AC locals to the new timetable. Earlier this year, commuters on Central Railway were caught in a similar situation, but the suburban railways failed to learn any lessons. Demanding their 7.54 am Borivli-Churchgate AC local back, commuters have submitted to WR a petition with 1,300 signatures.Why make such important changes and that too without informing the public well in advance,” complained commuters on Western Railway (WR). With addition of 31 new services on October 1, the new timetable of WR suburban services changed drastically, because of which many office-goers missed their usual locals and were late to office on the first working day of this month.
The rescheduled local
Just like Central Railway saw commuters protest the cancellation of some services and rescheduling of 7.47 am Dombivli local, WR changes left people irked. Commuters protested over cancellation and rescheduling of 7.54 am Borivli-Churchgate local on Monday. A petition with 1,300 signatures of the commuters has been submitted to the WR authorities. Ironically, both Dombivli and Borivli are stations with high revenue for AC trains on their respective lines. “The first-ever AC local service in Mumbai was 7.54 am Borivli-Churchgate fast with a fabulous ridership. It was ideal for office-goers whose work starts at 9.30 am. But it was suddenly cancelled. Who comes up with the idea of cancelling such important services?” asked commuter Prathamesh Sawant.

“The revised timetable is of no use. There’s just one AC local from Virar to Churchgate in the morning peak hour and that too after a gap of 1.20 hours. At Mira Road and Dahisar stations today, the Railway Protection Force had to be called to shut the automated train doors, as there was overcrowding,” said Hiren Makadia, another commuter.

“With the heat, the commute in AC locals was a godsend. However, with the current timetable changes, peak hours are now flat, with minimal AC trains, particularly from Virar in the morning. Currently, there is an urgent need to retrofit existing fleets with three dedicated AC coaches, resulting in a train of 15 coaches rather than 12. AC locals place too much strain on general trains. The only way to simplify the services is by integrated retrofitting,” said Ashish R Dwivedi, a publicist who commutes from Virar to Prabhadevi.

“Furthermore, the Railways must be more proactive in terms of preparing and alerting passengers. Ideally, the timetable should have arrived two weeks before the launch date, allowing passengers to adjust their daily travel accordingly,” Dwivedi added.

Aparna Jadhav, a resident of Andheri East, learnt about the new timetable after waiting for her regular AC local for several minutes. “Timely announcements of the revised timetable would have been better and saved me from the hassle and from getting late to office,” she said.

“We have taken note of the complaints. We have included two services in the morning peak hours from Borivli–8.26 am and 10.16 am trains. The other services have been extended to Virar to cater to more commuters based on the demand. However, we are getting one more AC train into service soon. We will try to see how we can work towards fulfilling commuters’ demand once we get the new train,” said Sumit Thakur, chief public relations officer, WR.

Central Railway commuters witnessed showers inside the Kalyan-CSMT AC local in the dry city. The roof of the women’s coach was leaking and the “water flow was intense and caused inconvenience,” said commuter Sheela Mullick. “There was leakage from the AC duct of one coach (no 7066B) in K-36 train. It was possibly due to malfunctioning of the temperature sensor. It was attended to immediately. An investigation is underway by downloading the data at the car shed,” a CR spokesperson said. A few evening AC services were cancelled on CR.Oct 1
Day the new timetable came into effect

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Mumbai Air Pollution: IMD Predicts Clear Skies With Breezy Atmosphere; AQI Remains Satisfactory At 78

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1 year ago

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November 11, 2023

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Mumbai: The city woke up to sunny skies in the morning on Saturday. Mumbai witnessed partially cloudy mornings with rains for the past few days, which resulted in improving the atmosphere’s air quality. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) however predicted clear sunny skies in the city and suburbs in the morning today.

The weather agency also predicted that the city and suburbs will continue to see sunny skies towards the afternoon and by the evening. The temperatures on Saturday are likely to be between 26°C to 31°C.

Mumbai’s temperature on Saturday morning was recorded at 28°C while the humidity was 67%.

Mumbai AQI

As per the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the AQI in Mumbai is currently in the ‘satisfactory’ category, with a reading of 78.

For context, an AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 to 100 is ‘satisfactory’, 101 to 200 is ‘moderate’, 201 to 300 ‘poor’, 301 to 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 to 500 ‘severe’.

AQI Of Different Areas In Mumbai

Colaba: 58 AQI Satisfactory

Andheri: 56 AQI Satisfactory

Malad: 98 AQI Satisfactory

BKC: 103 AQI Moderate

Borivali: 84 AQI Satisfactory

Mazagaon: 75 AQI Satisfactory

Worli: 47 AQI Satisfactory

Navi Mumbai: 89 AQI Satisfactory

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Navi Mumbai: 14 die of dehydration at Maharashtra Bhushan award event as VIPs enjoy lavish buffet on taxpayers’ money

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2 years ago

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April 21, 2023

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Even as lakhs of people were sitting under the scorching sun at the Khargar International Corporate Park ground last Sunday to witness the Maharashtra Bhushan award event, about 900 persons, including VIPs, were enjoying a lavish buffet laid out in an air-conditioned palace-like lounge behind the dais. The menu included fresh white dhoklas, cocktail batawadas, aluwadi, paneer masala, pitla, matki usal, special pulao, two types of dal, basmati jeera rice, puri, chapati, badam halwa, aamras, shrikhand, ice creams – gadbad, strawberry, chocolate, vanilla, and chilled soft drinks, all unlimited and at the taxpayers’ expense.

Official expenditure on the program was Rs.13.50 crore

The VIPs were given golden color spoons to gorge on the lavish spread. One of the guests told on Thursday that each plate cost ₹1,000. Minister for Culture Sudhir Mungantiwar was one of the VIPs seen in the special lounge. The official expenditure on the program was ₹13.50 crore, but if the money spent on resurfacing the roads, etc., is taken into account, the expense could easily be ₹25 crore.

Arrangements for water were not only inadequate

Outside, there was not even a shade for the visitors who were all followers of Appasaheb Dharmadhikari, who was the recipient of the government award. Arrangements for water were not only inadequate but also not placed at vantage points. Unable to bear the heat, as many as 14 persons died of dehydration. Mungantiwar effectively blamed Dharmadhikari since it was the “social reformer” who suggested the time at 11.00 a.m. Incidentally, Dharmakari spoke for one hour even as his followers were suffering from the blazing heat with nothing to cover their heads. The government has asked the Revenue Secretary Nitin Kareer to probe the tragedy.

Meanwhile, a lawyer from Navi Mumbai, Sachin Thorat (43), has written to the Khargar police to register his FIR against Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Mungantiwar, and others connected with the organization of the awards function. He told FPJ on Thursday that he will file a private complaint with a local court under section 156 (3) of the CrPC if his FIR is not registered in the next few days.

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Indian man dies in US multi-vehicle crash

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2 years ago

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December 28, 2022

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 A 26-year-old man from Haryana died in a multi-vehicle crash that occurred in the US state of Pennsylvania following ice and snow storms across the mid-Atlantic region, local media reported.

Manpreet Singh from Pehowa, Haryana, who had moved to Queens, New York recently, was hit by a truck that was on its way to Indiana.

“The crash occurred around 6.30 a.m. on December 24 near mile marker 64 on Interstate-80 west in Clarion Township,” Clarion County Coroner Dan Shingledecker said.

Singh, who was taken to a hospital in Clarion, Pennsylvania, was pronounced dead at 8.58 a.m.

Shingledecker said the cause of death was blunt force trauma, while the death has been ruled accidental.

Police in Clarion declined to comment citing an active investigation, Explore Clarion reported. Following the accident, a section of the Interstate-80 was shut for approximately 12 hours.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to raise money for his funeral, and provide financial assistance to his parents. According to the fundraiser page, Manpreet was the only child of his parents.

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