On Friday, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw travelled by a local train between Thane station and Diva station for inspection of two additional Indian Railways lines on the Mumbai suburban network, and ate ‘vada pav’ at a roadside eatery during his visit, according to officials. The Railway Minister arrived in the city of Mumbai this morning ahead of the event in which PM Narendra Modi is scheduled to dedicate the newly constructed railway lines connecting Thane and Diva stations in the afternoon virtually, PTI reported. Besides, the Prime Minister will flag off two suburban/local trains on the route.
Today at around 1:00 PM, the Union Minister boarded the Central Railway zone-operated local train at Thane station and travelled till Diva station with a couple of railway stations lying in between. He interacted with passengers on-board while travelling in a second class compartment, and also at Diva railway station. The Railway Minister was accompanied by the Union Minister of State for Railways Raosaheb Danve, Chairman of Railway Board V K Tripathi and other officials in the local train. They returned to Thane by a special inspection coach after attending a small function at Diva railway station, according to railway officials. The Railway Minister then tasted a ‘vada pav’ and tea at a roadside stall outside the Thane station, the official said.
According to the report, chaos prevailed at platform number one of Diva station as people gathered in large numbers to see the function in which the ministers took part. Later, some railway passengers complained that they couldn’t catch trains due to overcrowding, while some others complained they could not alight. Local trains are considered Mumbai’s lifeline. At present, around 60 lakh commuters use suburban locals daily due to travel restrictions because of Covid, though more than 75 lakh passengers used to commute on suburban local trains before the pandemic.