In order to meet the growing needs of the passengers, South Eastern Railway ( SER) has announced a bi-weekly train between Tatanagar and Katihar in Bihar from November 17.

Officials at Garden Reach, the Kolkata-based headquarters of South Eastern Railway said the train will run from November 17.

The 08141 Tatanagar — Katihar —  Special train (Old No. 28181/28182) will leave Tatanagar every Wednesday and Saturday at 9.25 pm and will reach Katihar at 2.55 pm, the next day. In the return journey, 08142 Katihar-Tatanagar Special will depart Katihar every Friday and Monday at 2 pm and will reach Tatanagar at 6.20 am, the next day.

Passengers, especially those who have their native place in Bihar have welcomed the railway’s decision of introducing a train for Bihar. UK Srivastava, a senior functionary, Chotanagpur Passengers Association said that thousands of people from the steel city and other places visit Bihar during this time to celebrate Chhath with their families, the initiative to run special trains will provide ease to the passengers.

The Tatanagar railway station is the only A1-category railway station under Chakradharpur division of South Eastern Railway ( SER). The footfall at the station is gradually on the rise because of the increasing number of trains and also because of the fact that Tatanagar falls on the Howrah-Mumbai main line. Several important trains travel via Tatanagar, including the high-profile Rajdhani Express and Duronto Express. The station sees a daily traffic of 90 mail, express and passenger trains, besides a footfall of more than 60,000 passengers. But, in view of the pandemic around a dozen trains pass through the station these days. The footfall of passengers has also come down drastically.