Pune railway services are facing widespread route, halt and timing changes from September 19 to October 4 as Central Railway undertakes commissioning work for the third line between Hadapsar and Ghorpadi. The 15-day pre-non-interlocking and non-interlocking block covers the Pune and Hadapsar yards and affects several long-distance, special and local services.
The Pune division has said that trains will be diverted, partially cancelled, regulated or operated from alternative stations on specified dates. Some services will terminate at or originate from Khadki, Daund, Kurduwadi, Jejuri or other stations instead of Pune or Hadapsar. Railway advisories have asked passengers to check the latest status and revised timetable before beginning their journey. The dates in the notification refer to the date on which the journey starts.
The Pune-Howrah Express will operate through Lonavala, Karjat, Panvel, Kalyan, Igatpuri and Manmad on September 19 and October 3, with its Daund chord line halt cancelled. The Howrah-Pune Express will follow the revised route on October 3. The Jammu Tawi-Pune Express will reach Pune through Manmad, Igatpuri, Kalyan, Panvel, Karjat and Lonavala on September 21, without halts at Kopargaon, Belapur, Ahilyanagar, the Daund chord line and Uruli.
The Bengaluru-Mumbai Express will run through Solapur, Kurduwadi, Miraj, Satara and Pune on September 22, skipping Daund and Uruli. The Mumbai-Chennai Express will operate through Kalyan, Igatpuri, Manmad and Daund from September 19 to 23 and on October 4, with scheduled halts at Karjat, Lonavala, Khadki, Pune and Daund cancelled.
Other services affected on specified dates include the Nizamuddin-Vasco, Pune-Jammu Tawi, Mumbai-Bhubaneswar, Pune-Nagpur, Pune-Banaras, Nagercoil-LTT, Chennai-LTT, Chandigarh-Yeshwantpur, Mumbai-Bidar, Secunderabad-Rajkot, LTT-Coimbatore, Satara-Dadar, Trivandrum-LTT, LTT-Kakinada, Kolhapur-Nizamuddin, Mysuru-Nizamuddin and Visakhapatnam-LTT trains. The Nagercoil-LTT Express will bypass Pune on September 22 and October 2, while the Chennai-LTT Express will skip Pune and Lonavala on October 2 and 3.
The Satara-Dadar Express will leave Satara at 10.30 pm instead of its scheduled 3.30 pm departure on October 3, resulting in a seven-hour delay. Its halts at several stations, including Koregaon, Karad, Sangli, Miraj, Pandharpur, Kurduwadi, Daund, Kedgaon and Uruli, will be cancelled. The Virangana Lakshmibai Jhansi-Hadapsar TOD Special will run only up to Daund on September 23 and 30, while its return service will begin from Daund instead of Hadapsar on September 24 and October 1.
Several trains will also be regulated during the block. The SMVB-LTT Express will be held for two hours on October 3 in the Miraj-Saswad Road section. The Virangana Lakshmibai Jhansi-Hadapsar and Danapur-Pune TOD Specials may be regulated in the Yavat-Daund chord line section on specified dates. The LTT-Solapur Express will be controlled for one hour on September 23, and the Bikaner-Yeshwantpur Express for 30 minutes on September 22, in the Lonavala-Pune section.
Departure times for selected trains have also changed. The Pune-Danapur Amrit Bharat Express will depart at 5 pm instead of 3.25 pm on September 19 and at 4 pm on October 3. The Pune-Danapur TOD Special will leave at 7.45 pm on several dates instead of 3.40 pm, and at 11.20 pm on September 20 and October 4. The Hadapsar-Virangana Lakshmibai Jhansi TOD Special will depart at 9.40 pm instead of 7.10 pm on September 20 and October 4.
The railway division said the infrastructure work is intended to make future operations safer, faster and more efficient. It also noted that additional TOD trains may be regulated depending on operational requirements during the block period. The Pune-Jammu Tawi and Pune-Howrah Express services are scheduled to depart on time on October 3 after an earlier plan to delay them was revised.
