After 88 years of being divided by the Kosi river, Bihar’s Mithilanchal region on Saturday was fully connected to the Indian Railways network. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw flagged off a direct train service between Jhanjharpur in Madhubani and Nirmali in Supaul district to bring greater convenience to the travellers in the Mithilanchal districts of Darbhanga, Saharsa and Madhubani.
The connectivity between Kosi and Mithilanchal has been re-established for the first time since 1934 when due to Indo- Nepal earthquake and heavy floods the rail connectivity was washed away.
The residents of the region used to travel a long distance of over 100 km to go from one side to the other due to the lack of a bridge on the Kosi river. The distance between Jhanjharpur and Saharsa will be reduced by half with the launch of the train service.
The first train in 88 years chugged off the Kosi Railway Bridge bringing smiles and joy to the lakhs of residents of Mithilanchal and over Bihar who had to take a very circuitous route to reach their destinations.
Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had laid the foundation stone of Mahasetu over the Kosi estimated to the tune of `491 crore on June 6, 2003 in the presence of then Railway Minister Nitish Kumar, who is now Chief Minister of Bihar.
After 17 years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Kosi Rail Bridge in 2020. Notably, train services on this route started under the British rule in 1887. The 1934 earthquake damaged it completely which separated the two regions — Kosi and Mithilanchal.
Bihar Ministers Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Sheela Mandal, MPs from Madhepura, Jhanjharpur and Supaul, local MLA Nitish Mishra besides top railway authorities of Samastipur rail division of East Central Railway Zone of Indian Railways were present at the event.Vaishnaw in his online inaugural address reiterated Prime Minister Modi’s commitment towards the development of eastern States and and assured all possible assistance to Bihar in the development of railways.
He inaugurated train services on the broad gauge from Jhanjharpur railway station in Madhubani district to Nirmali railway station in Supaul district and a new rail line from Nirmali to Asanpur Kupaha at the cost of `1,584 crore through videoconferencing.
He said at present three pairs of passenger trains will operate daily on this section from Leheriasarai to Saharsa via Darbhanga, Sakri, Jhanjharpur, Tamuria, Nirmali, Saraigarh, and Supaul from Sunday.
