State seeks more trains in the rail budget

With the last railway budget failing to provide much for the state, Gujarat has started campaigning in right earnest for many of the state projects to find place in this year's rail budget to be announced next week.

The Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industries (GCCI) has recently submitted a pre-budget memorandum to the railway ministry demanding as many as eleven new trains, eight route extensions and increase in frequency of three trains in the state.

"With the increasing passenger and container traffic, we have asked for the introduction of 11 new trains from Gujarat. At present, the railway projects in Gujarat are at various stages of implementation and we have urged speedy completion of these projects," said Chinubhai Shah, president, GCCI.

The trains demanded by the chamber include a new train between Okha and Howrah, one superfast train connecting Porbandar and Mumbai, a train between Sabarmati and Botad, between Rajkot and Abu Road, weekly trains between Somnath, Dwarka and Amritsar, a new DMU train between Ahmedabad, Palanpur and Abu Road, a new train between Abu Road, Palanpur and Howrah beside others.

The chamber has also demanded for extension of Jamnagar-Ahmedabad inter-city train upto Porbandar, extension of Hapa-Trivandrum upto Porbandar, Valsad-Ahmedabad train to be extended to Palanpur or Abu Road, Kochi-Rajkot-Kochi train to be extended upto Jamnagar or Porbandar, Coimbatore-Rajkot-Coimbatore to be extended upto Jamnagar or Porbandar, Rajkot-Bhopal-Rajkot train to be extended upto Jamnagar or Okha, Hyderabad-Rajkot-Hyderabad to be extended upto Jamnagar or Porbandar and to start a day train between Ahmedabad and Veraval.

The chamber has also demanded an increase in frequency of Rajdhani Express to daily and enhanced frequency of Dehradun-Okha Uttaranchal Express and Ala Hazrat Express.

"Gujarat has always been on the priority list of Western Railway. Important new trains introduced in last few years include Rajdhani Express between Ahmedabad and Delhi, connection to Dehradun, connection to Jammu via Rajasthan and Punjab, connection between two religious places of Dwarka and Puri and direct railway link between Ahmedabd-Dhanbad connecting the Jain pilgrim centre," said Mohammed Zaki Ansari, general manager, Western Railway.