On the eve of 91st birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee Indian Railways launched passenger train service from Bateshwar, the ancestral village of former PM, to Agra.
Union Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha along with Union minister of state for HRD and local Agra MP Ramashanker Kateharia flagged off the first passenger train at Bateshwar this afternoon in presence of hundred of local people and railway officials.
“Operation of this train was visualized by former Prime Minister. His dream now comes true with flagging off of this passenger train,” Sinha said. “This train will not only connect small villages also shorten distance between Agra and Bateshwar,” he said.
Bharat Ratna Vajpayee’s first exposure to politics began in Bateshwar in August 1942, when he and his elder brother Prem were arrested during the Quit India movement for 23 days. locals say Vajpayee always remembered the difficulties he had to face to reach his village from Agra. That is why he decided to connect Agra with the village by train as soon as he became the Prime Minister.
The train project, which the then Prime Minister visualized in 1999took more than 15 years to complete during which the originally Rs 110 crore budget stretched to Rs 430 crore.
The 125 km-long Agra-Bhandai-Shamshabad-Fatehabad-Baah-Bateshwar-Udi-Etawah track was commissioned on June 10, 2015, soon after the NDA government came to power, after commissioner railway safety (CRS) gave clearance for freight trains. But due to technical glitches operation of passenger traffic operation was halted.
According to Railways, a total of 11 stations on the route will help thousands of rural people to commute daily between Agra and Etawah.
“With the start of the passenger train operation many trains going towards Tundla before reaching Agra will be diverted towards Udi from Etawah.” Sinha said.