Of late there has been a lot of talk about introducing better forms of transport by way of bullet trains, GoaMiles App taxi services, Sky Bus, which was a non starter, Point to Point buses in Goa, etc at a substantial cost. What is surprising is that no one seems to think of improving the existing infrastructure which could have been done with little or no cost at all.
For example, the morning train from Kullem-Margao to Vasco and the evening train from Vasco to Margao-Kullem. Over the last five decades or so, the time taken by this train to cover a distance of about 30 km between Margao-Vasco stands at over 60 minutes and at times even more. The train was driven by a steam engine some years ago. Today, the train is powered by a modern diesel engine but the speed of the train and the time taken has remained static.
This is a matter of great shame for the Railway Department which is operating in Goa. The train No. 56961, which leaves from Kullem for Vasco via Margao, departs from Margao at 7.30 am and reaches Vasco at around 8.45 am after stops at Seraulim, Majorda, Cansaulim, Sancoale and Dabolim.
More often than not the train stops at one of these stations waiting for some long distance train to pass by. This in a way is ridiculous and needs to be changed. Most of the trains coming from other parts of India offload majority of the passengers at Margao and hence the trains are almost empty.
On the other hand, the Margao-Vasco train is full with passengers who are proceeding to work or in the evening returning from Vasco to get home.
Consider the plight of these passengers as they leave their home at around 7 in the morning to catch the train and get back home only at around 7 in the evening by the slow train No. 56966 which leaves Vasco at 5.30 pm in the evening- an ordeal of 12 hours.
It is high time the concerned authorities and our MLAs from Vasco, Dabolim and Margao act in the interest of the work force who travel by these trains by making these trains faster so that the transit time between Margao-Vasco-Margao is not more than 30 minutes each way. The stops at the various stations can be restricted to less than a minute each.
The long distance trains transiting this route should give preference to the local train to reduce the mental trauma that the daily passengers have to go through both to get to work in time in the morning and to get back to their families in the evening.
Once the plan to reduce the travel time is in place, the timings of the train can also be changed to depart from Margao at 8 am and from Vasco to 5.15 pm so that the daily man-hours of the passengers are relatively reduced. This facility will also help to decongest the road traffic to a great extent.
