1. Ideally I would say that Howrah Rajdhani should not been allocated a halt given that SR already has an halt at ASN. But I would take ASN over any other halts that politicians with weird fetishes force upon us . You talk about PNME!
How many passengers does PNME provide. An ASN halt is much better than PNME,SSM or KQR . ASN is a NSG-2 station and it's revenue is comparable to BWN,DHN,GAYA , MGS etc. Even DGR would easily outclass PNME.
2. Secondly as someone who regularly visits the...
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Shikarji mandir on the Parasnath parbat, I can tell you that the place is not as crowded as some people are stating. Infact the number of visitors on any regular day can be easily competed by the number of shradhalus visiting the Bhuipore Temple in Dhanbad or the Ghagarburi Kali Mandir in Asansol. This is because of the much lower population of the followers of Jainism when compared to the number of followers of Hinduism. Does that undermine Parasnath importance! Absolutely not, it is arguably the most important pilgrimage site for the Jains alongside Palitana. But given that it is unable to give decent amount of patronage in 12301/2 definitely forges a strong argument for it's removal, especially since it is only 50 kms from the nearest major railhead Dhanbad. Since every passing train already stops at Dhanbad, asking for a Rajdhani class train to halt at PNME is a bit unfair given that the train in question is the first rajdhani of the country. Removing PNME would also mean that the DHN-GAYA sectional speeds can be improved, as ASN-DHN sectional speeds can't be speeded up due to various limitations.
3. Thirdly for someone who is been numerous times to both ASN & PNME, I can tell you the differences couldn't be more stark, ASN is the 2nd largest city in WB housing heavy industries like steel, coal etc, as an urban agglomeration ASN is bigger than even DHN. So patronage is never a question , ASN can and will provide patronage to almost any class of train. Add to the fact ASN's rich historical railway heritage, it was a centerpoint of several EIR & BNR projects. So it is ridiculous of the extent that some members are going to demean ASN.
4. You compared KQR to ASN by justifying that post the linkage of RNC via BKRA, KQR would become an important 4 point JN in the region and that it's importance would likely surpass ASN. While I would say that KQR certainly has a strong potential, ASN has been a pseudo 4 point JN for over a hundred years. The number of trains that halt at STN is basically peanuts so ASN is the changeover point, look at the lines emerging from or near to ASN, ASN-PNBE, ASN-DHN-GAYA, ASN-PRR-CKP/TATA, ASN-BWN! You think KQR will ever match the traffic of all these lines ??? I mean, like ever!
While I understand that some people are upset over ER's letter to RB citing removal of 12301/2 at PNME as the ASN halt has been implemented, justifying PNME halt at the expense of ASN is not simply fair....