Pune: Passengers were inconvenienced because of train unavailability and major delays on Tuesday night and Wednesday because the heavy rain led to cancellation and rescheduling of a number of trains, including the ones operating between Pune and Mumbai, even though rail tracks had cleared up by Tuesday evening.City resident Manideep Mittal was returning to Pune from Ratlam on the Jaipur-Pune Superfast Express. He said he didn’t know his trip would become a torture. “I boarded the train at 7.45 pm on Tuesday and we were supposed to reach Pune at 8.05 am on Wednesday. I was to join office after reaching home. The train reached Surat around 1 am and was rescheduled because of heavy rain in Mumbai. We were not informed through any medium. The train stood near Jalgaon from 7 am to 11 am on Wednesday,” he said. Till the time of going to press, Mittal was still stranded and told TOI: “We have no idea when we will reach Pune.”Harindar Singh was onboard the Amritsar Express which started 10 hours late from CSMT. He hoped the train would recover on lost time. “However, once a train is delayed, the timings go for a toss since priority is given to other trains. It has been a rough trip,” he said.Sukdev Painuly boarded the Hazrat Nizamuddin Duronto Express at 11.10 am on Tuesday in Pune. “The train ran for a distance and stopped. Our connecting journey plans went for a toss. It is such an inconvenience to so many passengers, especially amid zero update by the railways,” he posted on X.Sangamwadi resident Madhav Buchate said he had no idea that all intercity trains between Pune and Mumbai were non-operational on Wednesday. “I had important work in Mulund and reached the Pune station in the morning to catch the Deccan Queen. I looked for shared cabs along the station road when I came to know that the train was cancelled. Three of them shockingly demanded Rs1,500. Finally, I went to the Pune station MSRTC stand and took a bus to Mumbai,” the working professional said.MSRTC officials of Pune division said no additional buses were plying because of train cancellations. “There are around 130 buses, including E-Shivneri buses, which operate between Pune and Mumbai daily. The passenger load in the buses is less than 40% on Wednesdays. Buses could have been increased but not too many people were travelling to Mumbai for fear of getting stuck. The same was for routes to Solapur and Kolhapur. The passenger traffic in each of the buses was around 50%,” an official told TOI.Gautam Sable, a working professional, said he had to skip work. “I work in Navi Mumbai and often take a bus. However, I have had to skip work for two days now. I don’t want to take any risk and then suffer,” he said.In Pune city, compared to Monday, breakdown of PMPML buses increased on Tuesday. Kishore Chauhan, the PRO, said, “On Tuesday, 80 buses broke down because of the rain.” On Monday, 69 buses suffered breakdowns. The actual trips on Wednesday were 19,255 compared to the planned 21,271. Kalyaninagar resident Nimish Sathe said, “Surprisingly, my bus came on time on Wednesday, maybe because of little traffic on the streets.“Divisional commercial manager and PRO of the Pune rail division Hemant Kumar Behera said train operations had returned to normal. “The Up line from Pune to Mumbai became fully operational around 9.15pm on Tuesday and the Down line became operational by 10.23pm. All intercity trains are to resume services from Thursday. We will update if there are any fresh development,” he told TOI.Another railway official said that even with the lines becoming operational, things took a lot of time with many trains remaining stuck. “The lines were opened to rail traffic and trains have started to move slowly. The process is time taking and needs proper planning and execution,” he added.Meanwhile, in Mumbai, the Central Railway limped back to normalcy on Wednesday after heavy rainfall late on Tuesday night. Services on both Harbour and Main lines were back to normal by Wednesday afternoon.
