Railway pit line at Chikalthana or Jalna?

Aurangabad, Oct 17:A railway pitline is proposed at Chikalthana and a detailed project report was also being prepared by the railway officers. However, the land at Chikalthana is inadequate, and the pitline can be established only if the state government gives land here.

Meanwhile, an inspection of land has also been done at Jalna for the pitline. A meeting of the MPs from the Marathwada as well as from Manmad, Akola and Madhya Pradesh has been organised on October 20 in Aurangabad to discuss the railway issues. Now, it will be interesting to see what Marathwada gets along with pitline after this meeting.

The meeting of the MPs is being held in the city after almost two decades. Discussions on the proposed railway routes and the demands of the MPs will be held, the sources said. The railway network in the Marathwada region is inadequate and there are mostly single lines. The trains operated are also very limited. The works of new railway routes, doubling and electrification are pending for several years.

After the expansion of the union cabinet, Raosaheb Danve received the post of minister of state for railways and the people of Marathwada fighting for railway issues were relieved. After getting the representation to the Marathwada in the cabinet, it is expected that the railway issues will be resolved. Much is expected from the meeting of the MPs.

The prolonged demands of the people are Rotegaon - Kopargaon Railway route, Aurangabad - Daulatabad - Chalisgaon route, Solapur - Tuljapur - Osmanabad - Beed - Gevrai via Paithan - Aurangabad - Jalgaon route, Jalna - Khamgaon route, Aurangabad - Nagar, Aurangabad pitline, second phase of Aurangabad Model Railway Station, Shivajinagar underground way and Car shed at Jalna.

The president of the Marathwada Railway Kruti Samiti, Anant Borkar, said that it is expected that most of the railway issues will be resolved after the meeting of the MPs. If the decisions are not taken in the meeting, we will meet the railway minister. There is a need for a superfast express for Mumbai. The Rotegaon - Kopargaon and Aurangabad - Chalisgaon routes come under Central Railway and hence its general manager should also be called for the meeting, he said.