Kutchis, Kathiawadis on trains from north can't alight at Kalupur station

Passengers from Rajkot, Gandhidham, Surendranagar, Jamnagar and most of the western cities of Gujarat will soon bear the brunt of plans underway to decongest Ahmedabad railway station. The Ahmedabad Division of the Western Railways will soon be diverting 33 trains coming from North India and going to Saurashtra-Kutch, from Chandlodia railway station, completely bypassing Ahmedabad.

A senior official said, “Trains coming to Central Gujarat from Palanpur will pass through Khodiyar, go to Chandlodia and then to Ambli Road. From there, they can go further west to Saurashtra or north to Kutch.” This, in effect, means that those who want to alight at Ahmedabad, will have to do so at either Chandlodia railway station or Ambli Road railway station.

Passengers who get down at Ambli Road and need to catch another train from Ahmedabad railway station will have to travel more than 13 km through the city, a drive of more than 40 minutes.

Chandlodia railway station is also 10 km away from Ahmedabad railway station at Kalupur and it takes a drive of more than 30 minutes through the city for the passengers to reach Kalupur. Although Chandlodia railway station is relatively closer to the city, the only practical means of transport from there is autorickshaws as the AMTS stand 100 metres from the station gets stoppages from only three buses while the nearest BRTS stop is 2 km away at Akbarnagar.

While Mirror had reported on March 7 that 10 trains would be diverted to Sabarmati railway station by May or June, this long-term decision to divert trains through Chandlodia will adversely affect passengers, said rail user’s association members.

Passengers inconvenienced

Sailesh Upadhyay, member of Zonal Rail Users Consultation Committee (ZRUCC) from Surendranagar said, “With this move, it will become very difficult for passengers from Saurashtra-Kutch to catch major north-bound trains like the Rajdhani Express and Shatabdi Express among others. Travelling time will simply be too much of a hurdle. The railways should consider taking the trains to at least Sabarmati railway station to make it easier for passengers.”

Yogesh Mishra, ZRUCC Member from Ahmedabad said, “While this decision will adversely affect thousands of people from Saurashtra, it will have a drastic effect on migrants from these regions settled in Ahmedabad itself. As most of the people are settled in Nikol, Naroda and other areas in East Ahmedabad, travelling to the other end of the city in the west to catch atrain back home is highly unfeasible.”

The ‘greater interest’

Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Dinesh Kumar expects strong opposition to his plans of diverting trains to Sabarmati and Chandlodia. However, he told Mirror that the step has to be taken in ‘greater interest’ of the railways and its passengers.

Ahmedabad station handles over 100-120 trains a day

Giving the reason for diverting the trains, the DRM said, “Ahmedabad railway station is too congested and handling more than 100-120 trains per day is too much. After moving 10 trains to Sabarmati railway station, the next step will be to shift majority of trains through Chandlodia station without having them stop at Ahmedabad.”

Apart from the reduction in number of trains coming into Ahmedabad station, railway officials told Mirror that the waiting time for other trains will also be reduced. With only nine of 12 tracks at Ahmedabad station currently in operation, the problem of congestion is intensified, said an official.

Ajay Prakash, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager (Sr DCM) said, “Trains have to wait at least 20 minutes at Ahmedabad station for crew change and engine reversal. Diverting even 10 trains through Chandlodia would save at least 30 minutes per day.” Asked if all trains from Western Gujarat will bVe barred from entering Ahmedabad, Prakash said, “We are planning how best to execute this and are looking at all options.”

Cows at Chandlodia
Currently, Chandlodia railway station, with its three tracks and two platforms, has seven trains passing through it. While two are inter-city trains, five are express trains, said Station Master JK Patel. But even as work on the wall enclosing Chandlodia railway station has been underway for more than one and a half years, the work has not yet been completed, leading to cows, dogs and humans constantly being spotted crossing the railway tracks at all times of the day.

With the gradual increase in railway traffic from the current seven trains to 40 after the planned diversion, this could be a major catastrophe in the making.

A’bad station façade to be ready in 2 months
Railways officials said that the renovation of Ahmadabad Railway Station will take two months. The heritage style facade work and construction of Foot Over Bridge (FOB) is currently underway at Platform-1.