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Mumbai: Dadar-Ratnagiri passenger service was run to make Mumbai-Ratnagiri journey easier for the Konkan residents of Mumbai city and suburbs. However, this service has been stopped during the Corona period and passengers are being run from Divya to Ratnagiri from September 2021 instead of Dadar. Due to the closure of the passenger service from Dadar to Ratnagiri for the past three years, the plight of passengers going to Konkan continues.
Ratnagiri passenger train was started from Lokmanya Tilak terminus from 1996-97 for Konkanis. However, as Dadar station is closer to Mumbai city and Konkanis from western and eastern suburbs instead of Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, this passenger started running from Dadar. This train stopped at all stations and became popular and important. This train was a big support for everyone who left from all the small and big villages of Ratnagiri and Raigad districts of Konkan early in the morning and reached Mumbai city and completed the work till afternoon and returned to the village on the same day. But, to improve punctuality in zero based schedule of 2020, Central Railway decided to run this train only till Diwa. Accordingly, in September 2021, train number 50103 / 50104 Ratnagiri Dadar – Ratnagiri Passenger was converted into Ratnagiri – Diva – Ratnagiri Passenger. Now that this train departs from Diva station, commuting to and from Diva has become difficult for Konkanites residing in South Mumbai, Central Mumbai, Western Suburbs, Vasai, Virar, Nalasopara, Gujarat. Also, passengers coming from long distances are suffering as there is no other convenient option to travel to Divya except by train. The change made to improve punctuality has not only caused inconvenience to the passengers, but there has been no difference in the punctuality of the train.
Stops of Diva – Ratnagiri passenger on Central Railway at nine stations namely Dativali, Nilje, Taloje, Navade Road, Kalamboli, Somatne, Rasanani, Hamrapur, Nidi have been cancelled. Despite reducing the stops, the train is given an earlier travel time and never reaches Diwa on time. Also, after repeated requests by public representatives and passengers to leave this train again from Dadar, the railway administration is running special trains number 01025, 01026, 01027, 01028 for Gorakhpur and Ballia from the same Dadar station at the same time. Janshatabdi, Mandvi, Konkankanya, Tutari, Vande Bharat, Tejas or any number of other trains plying the route cannot be compared to the Ratnagiri Passenger and Sawantwadi Diva Express trains.
Because these two trains stop at all stations with few exceptions. So, these trains consist of fully unreserved or 70 percent unreserved coaches. Also, due to the short length of the platforms at Diva, only 16 to 17 coaches can be attached to the trains here. As a result, it becomes difficult to divide the crowd. Therefore, Akshay Mahapadi, member of Konkan Development Committee, has demanded that both Diva-Ratnagiri, Diva-Savantwadi trains should be run up to Dadar or CSMT.
