05 October,2020 07:04 AM IST | Mumbai | Rajendra B Aklekar
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal at the press conference on Saturday
The Ministry of Railways has not received any formal request from the Maharashtra government to run local trains for everyone, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said at a press conference held at Churchgate on Saturday. This, even as state minister Aaditya Thackeray had hinted to the media on September 29 that the government was actively thinking of resuming local trains by October 15.
Speaking at a press conference on the farmers' bill in Mumbai, he said that though it was not an appropriate forum to give a reply to any issue other than the farmers' bill, given the nature of the event, he clarified to a specific question on local trains stating that no requests of any kind had been received by the railway ministry from the Maharashtra government.
Commuters at Borivli station amid delayed trains. Pic/Satej Shinde
In the Unlock 5, the state government has allowed the railways to run interstate trains and increase the frequency of local trains as per requirements.
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To reduce overcrowding on special suburban train services in the city, CR and WR have been increasing services as per crowd patterns. Mumbai's guardian minister Aaditya Thackeray had hinted to the media that the state government had been "actively thinking" of opening local trains by October 15, but no decision has been taken yet.
Goyal, meanwhile, said the new Kisan Rail trains that started on Central Railway on August 7 had become a trendsetter, now running tri-weekly between Devlali and Muzaffarpur. They have carried 5,223 tonnes in 19 trips till October 2. Perishables like pomegranate (anar), capsicum, green chilli, ginger, lemon, iced fish are transported in Kisan Rail. There is a proposal now to start a Kisan Rail service from Nagpur to transport oranges to different parts of the country as the fruit's season sets in.
"We are also in discussion with the Ministry of Agriculture to start refrigerated coaches for the transport of perishable commodities; warehouses are being planned to permanently solve the problem of wastage of farm produce," he added.
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