The Central Railway will be cancelling the Pune-Solapur-Pune Intercity Express train (train nos. 12169 and 12170) from November 1for the next 125 days, causing much trouble for passengers travelling along the route. While schedules of several other trains on this route have been changed, the reason behind this cancellation is that the railway track work between Washimbe and Jeur on this route will begin from November 1. Every day, one hour 45 minutes during the afternoon will be set aside for this track work. As the Intercity Express is a major mode of travel for students, office goers and other passengers, they will suffer the most for the next four months.

“Currently, it is a single line railway track on the Daund-Kurduwadi-Solapur route. So, work will start in the first phase on the Washimbe to Jeur stretch for development of the track. For this, daily, a one-hour-45-minute block will be taken by our workers on this route to carry out the work. So, all trains running in the afternoon are being either cancelled or delayed. Other than the Intercity Express, the Sainagar-Pandharpur-Sainagar train that runs thrice a week has also been cancelled. We will be trying to complete the work as early as possible, but the estimated time needed for it is 125 days according to our calculation,” said senior commercial manager of Central Railway R K Sharma.

Regular passenger Shailesh Kshirsagar said, “I work in Pune, but my native place is Kurduwadi and the Intercity Express is a lifeline for a majority of people living on this route. We prefer this train due to its convenient timings and as it runs on all seven days of the week. The railways should not have cancelled this train.” Bhaurao Tandale, a trader from Solapur, added, “Travelling by the Intercity Express to Pune is convenient, cheaper and takes less time than road travel. If it doesn’t ply from November 1, it will be difficult for regular passengers like us as we cannot afford the high fares of state or private buses.”