Laying of new tracks between city and Lonavla will have to wait as Railway runs into land acquisition hitch and fund crunch

Commutersu00a0using the local train service between Pune and Lonavla will have to wait longer for augmented services on the corridor. The railways' plan to lay another pair of tracks between the two stations has hit a roadblock owing to land acquisition and finance problems. This has bogged down the long-pending proposal even before it took off.


In demand: There are 44 local train services between the city and
Lonavla everyday.

Defence hindrance
Several defence establishments based near Dehu Road has made land acquisition here a chore for the Central Railways. Public Relations Officer (PRO) YK Singh, said that getting military approval was a tedious process and would take a lot of time. "Dehu Road is home to the Dehu Road Ordnance Factory Board and also has a Cantonment Board. Besides, we are yet to decide on what to do with the solitary platform at Akurdi. Either the two new tracks will have to pass around it or the platform will have to be demolished to make way for the tracks. Such decisions are sensitive as they can encumber future train movements and thus have to be taken carefully," said Singh.


Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced a survey for new lines on this corridor in the latest Railway Budget Session. Railway officials complained they were finding it a task to engage private partners to execute the construction projects under the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model. "Very few competent companies have shown interest in partnering with the railways. We cannot bear the entire cost and the PPP model is suitable for this. PPP is a win-win situation for both the public sector unit as well the private firm," Singh said.

State unresponsive
The Central Railway had also hoped the state government would cooperate and bear part of the project cost. "We have proposed a 50-50 or a 50-40 per cent cost-sharing formula, but that too was met with lukewarm response," Singh said. When asked if the railways was facing a financial crunch, Singh replied in the
affirmative. About 80,000 passengers use the 44 services between Pune and Lonavla everyday. The frequency is one train every 45 minutes. Passenger load is rising by 15 to 20 per cent every year, he said.

Enroachments
Harsha Shah, chairman of the Railway Pravasi Group, said the Railways Act clearly stipulates leaving a gap of 80 feet on both sides of a track. "This space has been encroached upon over the years and the railway has done nothing to ensure otherwise, or else land acquisition would have been easier," said Shah.