Guest guest Posted February 11, 2009 Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 Finally, a rail link to Shirdi, from Manmad via Puntamba Mumbai: The day is not far when thousands of Mumbai’s Shirdi Sai Baba devotees can directly reach Shirdi for darshan by an overnight rail journey. The work on the new Puntamba-Shirdi line has been completed. The Commissioner of Railway Safety will inspect the tracks on February 10 and the line is expected to be opened for railway traffic by the end of this month. According to sources, the Railway Board has decided that Train No 1333, which goes to Manmad, will now go to Shirdi via Puntamba. The train, which departs from CST at 10.55 pm, is expected to reach Shirdi at 7.35 pm. In the return direction, it will leave Shirdi at night and reach Mumbai the next morning. K K Sharma, chief administrative officer (construction), said: “All the major works have been completed. The final touches on the tracks and the station building at Shirdi are being done now.†He said the Commissioner of Railway Safety’s inspection has been scheduled on February 10. “Hopefully, the line will be opened for traffic in February itself.†Sources said painting and plaster works are underway at the Shirdi station. “Air-conditioners are being installed at many offices. Also, hectometre posts are being put up along the tracks. Work is also being done on rails to make it smooth so that trains may run smoothly even at high speed.†The 17.5-km Puntamba-Shirdi stretch is a long-pending project, which started in December 2003. Railways required 103.8 hectares of land for the stretch. The proposals were submitted in 2001 and the work was sanctioned. The total cost of the project is Rs 78 crore. Pilgrims’ gain Shirdi is famous for being the abode of Shirdi Sai Baba. Several thousand pilgrims visit the town every day and the number reaches lakhs during festival season. There is no railway link to Shirdi at present and pilgrims reach the town by road after alighting at Kopargaon, Manmad and Nashik Road railway stations. The new broad guage line, originating from Puntamba on Daund-Manmad route will provide direct rail link to Shirdi from all parts of the country. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/finally-a-rail-link-to-shirdi-from-manmad-v.../420996/ Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Invite them now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 11, 2009 Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 , " N. Sivanandam " <vasuki_mahal wrote: > > > > Finally, a rail link to Shirdi, from Manmad via Puntamba > Mumbai: The day is not far when thousands of Mumbai’s Shirdi Sai Baba devotees can directly reach Shirdi for darshan by an overnight rail journey. The work on the new Puntamba-Shirdi line has been completed. The Commissioner of Railway Safety will inspect the tracks on February 10 and the line is expected to be opened for railway traffic by the end of this month. > > > According to sources, the Railway Board has decided that Train No 1333, which goes to Manmad, will now go to Shirdi via Puntamba. The train, which departs from CST at 10.55 pm, is expected to reach Shirdi at 7.35 pm. In the return direction, it will leave Shirdi at night and reach Mumbai the next morning. >  > K K Sharma, chief administrative officer (construction), said: “All the major works have been completed. The final touches on the tracks and the station building at Shirdi are being done now.†>  > He said the Commissioner of Railway Safety’s inspection has been scheduled on February 10. “Hopefully, the line will be opened for traffic in February itself.†>  > Sources said painting and plaster works are underway at the Shirdi station. “Air-conditioners are being installed at many offices. Also, hectometre posts are being put up along the tracks. Work is also being done on rails to make it smooth so that trains may run smoothly even at high speed.†>  > sai ram good to knowand also eagerly waiting to know when delhi to shirdi train will start; > > The 17.5-km Puntamba-Shirdi stretch is a long-pending project, which started in December 2003. Railways required 103.8 hectares of land for the stretch. The proposals were submitted in 2001 and the work was sanctioned. The total cost of the project is Rs 78 crore. >  > Pilgrims’ gain > > Shirdi is famous for being the abode of Shirdi Sai Baba. Several thousand pilgrims visit the town every day and the number reaches lakhs during festival season. > > There is no railway link to Shirdi at present and pilgrims reach the town by road after alighting at Kopargaon, Manmad and Nashik Road railway stations. The new broad guage line, originating from Puntamba on Daund-Manmad route will provide direct rail link to Shirdi from all parts of the country. >  > http://www.indianexpress.com/news/finally-a-rail-link-to-shirdi-from-manmad-v...\ /420996/ > > > Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Go to http://messenger./invite/ > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 11, 2009 Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 Sai Ram Other (tentative) proposals on the anvil: a) An airport (why?) at Shirdi at a village Mauje about 15 km away. The airport might be spread over 400 hectares. b) An 18 storey tower at Dadar, Bombay where long distance pilgrims can stay in and then proceed to Shirdi c) Devotees from Maharashtra who visit Tirumala and /or Vaishnodevi shrines would be able to stay in _luxurious_ guest houses acquired by the Shirdi trust from the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam and Vaishnodevi trust at market prices d) Devotees in (or from?? Iam not sure) Bombay can get darshan passes. This prevents them from spending too much time waiting in the queues at Shirdi. This might be like the system at Tirumala where a person who registers would be given a tentative time of darshan and would not need to spend too much time standing in the Q. e) Beautification projects at Shirdi. It seems that there would be a whole slew of road widening projects, skywalks, multi-level car parking etc to reduce (yeah right!) the congestion near the temple. Shirdi is going to become the next Los Angeles, with flyovers and skywalks and what not... One wishes that the authorities take a look at how the TTD have religiously preserved the surroundings near Tirumala (especially the seven hills). Hopefully the Shirdi authorities will prevent Shirdi Mandir from being run over by an onslaught of ugly looking hotel buildings and gas spewing cars. Looks like the authorities have not heard the words solar-powered. They just need to look at the IIT Madras campus, where people use these buses and the campus is absolutely pollution free and green, while being bang in the center of a polluted city. Shirdi like Madras has plenty of sunshine all through the year. Has anybody seen the actual village called Shirdi? You know, the village houses, the well from where water used to be drawn etc? If yes, please indicate how to go about from near the Mandir premises... The path to Shirdi, once upon a time, must have been filled with huge trees (you can see their stumps on the road from Kopargaon to Shirdi) which looking at the girth of the stumps must have been young trees when Baba walked the place... R.I.P. ---- Prasanna PS: All these progressive plans by the Shirdi authorities appeared in the Mumbai Mirror newspaper, 2 days ago. On Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 12:59 PM, N. Sivanandam <vasuki_mahal wrote: Finally, a rail link to Shirdi, from Manmad via Puntamba Mumbai: The day is not far when thousands of Mumbai's Shirdi Sai Baba devotees can directly reach Shirdi for darshan by an overnight rail journey. The work on the new Puntamba-Shirdi line has been completed. The Commissioner of Railway Safety will inspect the tracks on February 10 and the line is expected to be opened for railway traffic by the end of this month. According to sources, the Railway Board has decided that Train No 1333, which goes to Manmad, will now go to Shirdi via Puntamba. The train, which departs from CST at 10.55 pm, is expected to reach Shirdi at 7.35 pm. In the return direction, it will leave Shirdi at night and reach Mumbai the next morning. K K Sharma, chief administrative officer (construction), said: "All the major works have been completed. The final touches on the tracks and the station building at Shirdi are being done now." He said the Commissioner of Railway Safety's inspection has been scheduled on February 10. "Hopefully, the line will be opened for traffic in February itself." Sources said painting and plaster works are underway at the Shirdi station. "Air-conditioners are being installed at many offices. Also, hectometre posts are being put up along the tracks. Work is also being done on rails to make it smooth so that trains may run smoothly even at high speed." The 17.5-km Puntamba-Shirdi stretch is a long-pending project, which started in December 2003. Railways required 103.8 hectares of land for the stretch. The proposals were submitted in 2001 and the work was sanctioned. The total cost of the project is Rs 78 crore. Pilgrims' gain Shirdi is famous for being the abode of Shirdi Sai Baba. Several thousand pilgrims visit the town every day and the number reaches lakhs during festival season. There is no railway link to Shirdi at present and pilgrims reach the town by road after alighting at Kopargaon, Manmad and Nashik Road railway stations. The new broad guage line, originating from Puntamba on Daund-Manmad route will provide direct rail link to Shirdi from all parts of the country. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/finally-a-rail-link-to-shirdi-from-manmad-v.../420996/ Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Invite them now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.