Long pending demand of declaring Pune-Daund as suburban section remains awaited

Abhishek Sonavale, Station Consultative Committee (SCC) Member, Kedgaon Station, has shared that in the last few days, railway related work & projects seem to be approved as the Railway Board issued notification on 21.02.24 to include Daund Junction in Pune Railway Division of Central Railway Zone, ticket fares are also reduced between Pune-Daund but, there has been a strong demand for Suburban Local for several years.

Abhishek Sonavale, Station Consultative Committee (SCC) Member, Kedgaon Station, said “In Pune-Daund section, there are around 40 to 50 thousand passengers such as students, traders, private labour employees, etc who commute on a daily basis. But due to the running of shuttle service, all commuters are facing a lot of inconvenience from the Railway Administration.”

Pramod Ubale, Executive President, Pune Gramin Railway Pravasi Group, said “We have been demanding suburban EMU services for 3 decades but still Pune-Daund isn’t approved as a suburban section and no EMU services are there as of now. Hopefully, the Pune-Daund section will be declared as a suburban section soon.”

As per further information shared by Abhishek Sonavale, Electrification was completed between Pune-Daund in 2017 by RVNL but still on this route no Suburban EMU Services are operational till now. Commuters, students, workers, private practitioners, traders have to travel by DEMU/MEMU shuttles which have very little frequency.

Manya  times, when the Railway Administration is asked for its response, they say that a proposal for Declaring Pune-Daund as Suburban Section, has been sent to the Railway Board but not approved yet, after approval and notification Suburban EMU Services will start.

Local MLAs, MPs, Rail Users Union, Passengers/commuters, Political Party, Students, traders all have demanded and the Central Railway Headquarters also sent a proposal to the Railway Board to declare Pune-Daund as a Suburban Section, but no approval has been received yet. So, there is a buzz about whether the passengers will get the benefit of the Pune-Daund Suburban Local Service this year or not.

For the past many years, Baramati Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule and Daund MLA Adv Rahul Subhash Kul have met the Union Railway Minister from time to time, corresponded with them and followed up continuously, but no action has been taken.