[Resolved]  Jan Shatabdi / Indian Railways — Poor on-time performance of 2051/2052 Jan Shatabdi

I hope this content is forwarded to the correct place and the necessary action taken at the earliest. I am a frequent traveler on Konkan Railway (KR). I travel frequently between Mumbai and Goa. I prefer to travel via rail as it offers much better facilities as compared to road travel.

The purpose of this mail is to bring to your attention the poor service of the 2051/2052 Jan Shatabdi Express. To tell you the fact, I was more than impressed with the service of this train till the middle of 2007 as it was the fastest train on the route and always on time.

However, in the last 1 and a half year travelling by this train is more of a waste of time. This train is never on time in the normal season nor in the monsoons. I agree the KR route has the biggest limitation of being a single track route, but it is a pity that it cannot run a Shatabdi on time.

As per the Indian Railways, the Shatabdi and Rajdhani trains are the pride of the nation. But it is fair to say that the 2051/2052 Mumbai-Madgaon Jan Shatabdi is a disgrace to this fact. The Jan Shatabdi represents quality, but where is the quality when you see this train stop to make way for Passenger, Goods and Mail/Express trains on a daily basis.

Recently, I travelled by this train to Goa on 15 August and returned back via the same train on 17 August. On 17/8/2008, I boarded the train at Panvel. The train is always on time at Panvel and departs at 6:38 in the morning. But it stops daily at Somatne station to make way for the Roha-Diva Passenger train.

On 15/8/08, it stopped at Somatne for around 10 minutes. Later on it stopped at Diwankhavanti station for around 5 minutes because of the Ratnagiri-Dadar Passenger train. Again it stopped at Khed station for another 10 minutes for the Ernakulam-Hazrat Nizamuddin Mangala Express to pass. Later on it again halted for 5 minutes at Anjani station for no reason at all.

The train went uninterrupted from Chiplun to Ratnagiri and passed the 6346 Trivandrum-LTT Netravati Express at Nivasar station. Then it stopped for 10 minutes at Rajapur Road station to make way for the Madgaon Diva passenger. Again it halted for 7 minutes at Nandgaon Road station to make way for the 0104 Mandovi Express. It went uninterrupted till Kankavli, where it had an operational halt for 2 minutes. However, it halted for more than 5 minutes as a goods train had to pass. Later on at Kudal, it halted for more than 30 minutes to make way for the Trivandrum Rajdhani. It again halted at Sawantwadi Road for a few seconds for no reason at all. Finally, I reached my destination at Thivim at 16:30 hrs, which is a delay of more than 1 and a half from the scheduled arrival time on paper.

I need to know what needs to done to address this issue. The fares of the Jan Shatabdi are higher compared to normal trains. For example, a Second Sitting fare from Thivim to Panvel in the Mandovi Express is Rs 140/- whereas the Jan Shatabdi charges Rs 177/-. The fare for the same distance on the Madgaon Diva passenger is around Rs 80/-.

It seems that the Konkan Railway and Central Railway are giving preference to normal trains rather than the Shatabdi. Currently, the signals of the entire route belong to the Trivandrum Rajdhani, which is a good thing. But isn’t it correct for me to say that the Jan Shatabdi should come second to the Rajdhani and preference should be given to it over the other normal trains? Currently, all passengers of this trains are overcharge for the poor service rendered. This train has only 2S berths. Considering the fact that it takes 12 hours to reach it’s destination, I feel it should have Sleeper Class berths as well. As this train takes such a long time to reach it’s destination, the only people benefitting from the delay are the catering guys, who make abnormal business.

You may say that the train is delayed as it is the monsoon season. But this train was never to time during the normal season as well and used to reach back in Mumbai the next day.

Sir, please forward this mail to the relevant department as urgent action needs to be taken in this regard.

I would appreciate if you could reply back to me.