Demand for 4 Rajyarani coaches for passengers from Manmad
Responding to growing demand from passengers and representations from elected officials, the Bhusawal division has written to CR headquarters requesting that at least four coaches be made available for booking from Manmad. These bookings would be managed by the Bhusawal division, which cited a significant volume of daily passengers commuting between Manmad, Nashik, and Mumbai.
"Given the representation by passengers from Nashik and recommendations from elected representatives, we have requested the CR to take up the issue with the South Central Railway (SCR) for the reservation of the coach, as the train is handled by the Nanded division of the Telangana-based SCR," said a senior officer from the Bhusawal Divisional Railway Manager's office.
The demand comes in the wake of recent changes by SCR, which decided to remove two general second-class seating coaches from the 17611 Nanded–CSMT Rajyarani Express. As a result, the train will now have only four general seating coaches, with the addition of one sleeper coach and an air-conditioned chair car. These changes are expected to take effect from August 5. The train departs Nanded at 10:00 pm, reaches Nashik at 6:00 am, and arrives in Mumbai at 10:00 am.
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According to railway data, around 100 passengers board from Manmad and approximately 140 from Nashik Road daily with current tickets, in addition to nearly 150 pass-holders. A large share of these are daily commuters and office-goers who rely on the Rajyarani Express to reach offices by 10:30 am, unlike the Panchavati Express, which arrives at CSMT around 10:45 am and is therefore not a feasible option for many.
"The occupancy of all general coaches (six existing) of this train combined is 92% from Manmad and 130% from Nashik towards Mumbai. Slashing down the number of coaches by two is going to impact passengers. We have therefore sought the opening of the four coaches from Manmad such that the SCR will issue reservations for those coaches till Manmad only and not beyond. That business will be handled by the Bhusawal Division of CR," the officer added.
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