– In 2012, ZRUCC member Dr. Pravin Dabli had given the proposal
– In 2014, detailed information was given to Union Minister Gadkari
– Broad gauge metro not on track even after 10 years
Nagpur :- Along with running metro train in Nagpur city, the proposal to start ‘Broad gauge metro rail’ service from Nagpur to Butibori, Ramtek, Wardha, Kamthi, Kanhan, Kalmeshwar, Katol, Chhindwara, Chandrapur, Amravati, Narkhed and Bhandara, Gondia city has still not been put on track. It seems like a dream now. No operator has come forward to run the broad gauge metro. Due to which it has again gone into the hands of the railways. Whereas the people of the area had great hope from Nagpur MP and Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari that the facility of broad gauge metro would be available soon.
Broad gauge metro has also been approved in the 2023 budget. In the budget, the name of broad gauge metro has been changed to Vande Metro Train. Due to which the hope of starting this train soon had increased. But still no work seems to be happening on it. Like other plans of Railways, this dream may also come true! Dr. Pravin Dabli has demanded from Nitin Gadkari that the date of its running should be announced in the upcoming full budget.
This broad gauge metro was also suggested by Pravin Dabli to Nagpur MP Nitin Gadkari in 2014. In which it was said that fast passenger should be run to connect Nagpur city to nearby cities and for working professionals going up and down. Which was later named Broad Gauge Metro by Gadkariji. Now it has been named Vande Metro Train in the 2023 budget.
It is known that in 2011-12, while being a ZRUCC member, Dr. Pravin Dabli had also given a proposal to the then General Manager of SECR Arunendra Kumar to run a train on the lines of the metro connecting such cities.
According to information received from sources, the railways are also not in favor of running it. But under the pressure of the minister, it is being postponed by agreeing. It is known that in July 2018, an MoU was signed between the Majhi Metro and the railways with great fanfare. But even after 10 years, work on it has not started rapidly. The city residents are tired of waiting for the broad gauge metro.
Former ZRUCC member Dr. Pravin Dabli has demanded from the Railway Administration and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari that the date of running the broad gauge metro in Nagpur should be announced in the first full budget of the third term of the upcoming Modi government.
*Fast MEMU should be run on available racks only*
Dr. Praveen Dabli has said that the railways can operate trains today itself, only the will power is lacking. Fast MEMU (Metro) can be run today itself using the currently available racks. If the minister wants, the date of starting this service can be fixed and announced today itself. So that the working class and the small cities around Nagpur city can be connected.
It should be known that the proposal to run a fast metro (MEMU) to connect Nagpur with the small cities around it was given by the then ZRUCC member Dr. Pravin Dabli to the General Manager of South East Central Railway. Since then, he has been raising this proposal on every forum. When the BJP government was formed in 2014, Dr. Pravin Dabli had submitted a memorandum of many demands including this proposal to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and had explained to him in detail the needs of the city and the expectations of the common man from the railways. One of the proposals in that proposal was to connect Kanhan to Butibori and Ramtek on the lines of metro. For this, a special super fast passenger train of 5 coaches should be run. Also, using the rack of train no. 328, fast passenger trains should be run on the lines of metro between Chandrapur and Katangi so that passengers travelling up and down to Nagpur for work from Ramtek, Kanhan, Kamthi Kalmeshwar, Katol and Bhandara-Gondia can get convenience. Earlier, this proposal was also given by Dr. Praveen Dabli to the then Minister of State for Railways, Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary, who came to Nagpur on 23-9-2013. This proposal was also given to all the General Managers of South Eastern Railway since 2012. Arunendra Kumar, who was the Chairman of Railway Board, had also approved this proposal in principle.
Now this proposal was given to the railways with the cooperation of MahaMetro in this work and it has been approved due to the efforts of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. After running trains on the lines of metro, passenger and MEMU trains will be discontinued. Metro trains can also be run on the available tracks during the timings of these trains.
It is known that the then Divisional Railway Manager Verma, understanding the seriousness of the proposal to run fast passenger trains between Ramtek-Kanhan-Butibori, gave in-principle approval to run it in his South Eastern Railway section and the section between Nagpur and Butibori comes under the jurisdiction of Central Railway, for this he wrote a letter to them on 28-2-2014 and proposed for approval. But after 2 years, Central Railway did not approve this proposal citing the reason of non-availability of space on the track. If the officials had changed their mindset at that time keeping in mind the development of the area, then today trains would have been running on the lines of metros. Nagpur city is the sub-capital of Maharashtra. Nagpur city is developing rapidly. Its radius has also been extended to 25 km. MIHAN, Cargo Hub, Grain Market in Kalamna and other business establishments are being developed.
