The Pune Mumbai Intercity express even though it has WAP7 on both ends-is reaching THane station daily 20 to 25 minutes, thus reaching destination-Mumbai VT- 20 minutes late daily.
The same was the reason prior to this PUSH-PULL arrangement in Intercity express.
The main reason for delay is that after reaching LONAVLA-the train is diverted to an isolated -3rd track between Khandala and Karjat- which thereby reaches Karjat late by 15 minutes. (which has less tunnels). As train reaches karjat station late-many suburban trains therefore are allowed to leave their respective home stations...
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towards MUmbai VT-. These suburban trains run BEFORE Intercity express and therefore Intercity Express gets late till its arrival at THANE and also other stations enroute to Mumbai VT.
My suggestion to Railways:
After reaching Lonavla- The mumbai bound Intercity be allowed to go to Karjat along the old-track which is a straight path towards Karjat. In this process the Intercity will reach Karjat in time.
After Karjat, the Intercity may be diverted on Karjat-Panvel track which is vacant that time and can travel distance of 26 kms (Karjat-Panvel) in 20 minutes. A halt can also be given at Panvel.
After Panvel the train can run at full speed towards Thane along the route-Panvel-Diva-Thane-Dadar-VT.
In this process no suburban train will be running before Intercity between Panvel and Diva and with PUSH-PULL arrangement- the Intercity express will reach destination BEFORE TIME.
Railways may please have a second thought to avoid late running of train.
If Intercity is diverted via Karjat-Panvel-Diva-Thane route- many New Mumbai passengers can also take benefit of this train.