BJP MP Palamu VD Ram has demanded a fresh relook at the timing of Barkakana Patna Palamu Express train and said the timing of this train was highly inconvenient to passengers either for Patna or for Daltonganj.
Palamu Express train reaches Daltonganj at 3.38 am from Patna. This timing is no safe for any passenger especially women to venture out of the Daltonganj railway station. The passengers have to wait for daybreak, he added.
Again this Palamu Express train reaches Patna railway junction at 8 am. Here also it is inconvenient as it takes 12 hours from Daltonganj to reach Patna.
Two railway officials, AK Sinha, Traffic Inspector and JE Santosh Tiwary said the rail distance between Daltonganj and Patna is only 308 kilometres. And 12 hours to cover is too long. The railway officials said on the back journey from Patna to Daltonganj the same Palamu Express train takes 8 hours only and rued that how could the same train takes 12 hours to reach Patna.
The BJP MP said the distance between the two cities is 308 km and moreover there is no additional stoppage. He further questioned as to how it takes 12 hours by Palamu Express train to reach Patna and 4 hour less to reach Daltonganj by the same train.
The MP said this consumption of huge hours like 12 hours for covering just 308 kilometres must be rectified.
Railway sources said 12 hours journey by an Express train should cover 1,000 kilometres but here it is for just 308 km. Sinha and Tiwary lamented that this Palamu Express train is the slowest train in the country whose average speed per hour is 25 km only.
The BJP MP urged the authorities to change the train schedules.