Lowest Utilized Main lines
Pune-Miraj (only 6 daily express trains and few Non-daily trains run on this route)
Miraj-Latur (one daily express train and 2 passenger trains are announced after gauge conversion completion in April 2010)
[edit] Reason for Lower Utilization
No...
more... new daily express train has been introduced on the Pune-Miraj-Hubli-Bangalore, Pune-Miraj-Londa-Madgaon or Pune-Miraj-Hubli-Chennai route in the last 15 years. Chalukya express was introduced in 1995 via Pune-Miraj-Hubli-Bangalore section which runs five days a week. Apart from Chalukya express, only a handful of non-weekly trains like Delhi-Bangalore Karnataka Sampark Kranti(bi-weekly), Suvarnajayanti(Weekly), Pune-Ernakulam(weekly) and Ajmer/Jodhpur-Bangalore bi-weekly express have been introduced in the last 15 years.
Pune-Miraj-Hubli section was earlier with Secunderabad(AP) based South Central Railway (SCR). SCR laid more emphasis on starting new trains in Andhra Pradesh state only. As a result, no development took place on Pune-Miraj-Hubli section. Finally, Pune-Miraj section was handed over to Pune division of Central Railway(CR) and Miraj-Hubli section was handed over to the newly created South Western Railway (SWR)Hubli Division. Pune-Miraj-Hubli section has now been divided into two parts one went to CR and other went to SWR.
CR Pune Division has introduced more trains towards North of Pune and SWR Hubli Division has introduced more trains towards South of Hubli. As a result the Pune-Miraj-Hubli stretch has been left with very few trains. No new daily express trains have been introduced on Pune-Miraj-Hubli stretch after bifurcation into CR and SWR. This has resulted in under-utilization of Pune-Miraj section.
[edit] Ways to Increase Utilization
There is a heavy passenger traffic on Mumbai-Bangalore, Mumbai-Chennai, Mumbai-Coimbatore, Mumbai-Tirupati routes. Lot of private buses ply on these routes as all trains on these routes are always full.
Daily new trains on following routes could be run to increase the utilization of Pune-Miraj section.
Mumbai-Miraj-Hubli-Bangalore
Mumbai-Miraj-Hubli-Chennai
Mumbai-Miraj-Hubli-Coimbatore
Mumbai-Miraj-Hubli-Tirupati
Madurai