It was a dream of the denizens of Hazaribagh since Independence to see their town linked with railway. On Friday, the decade-old dream is going to be a reality when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new railway station and flag off the first passenger train from Hazaribagh station to Koderma junction. With this flagging off, Hazaribagh Railway station on the Dhanbad Division of East Central Railway will enter into the Railway map of India.
Besides the PM, Jharkhand Governor Syed Ahmad, Chief Minister Raghubar Das, Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha, Union Minister of State for Finance and Hazaribagh MP Jayant Sinha would also grace the occasion. The Prime Minister would arrive at Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi from where he would leave for Hazaribagh by a special helicopter.
Foolproof security arrangements have been put in place. About half a dozen IPS officials have been pressed into service while the SPG team has already taken over the security arrangements at the venue and the railway station. The ambitious 79.7 km railway line has seven railway stations and two railway halts. While a total of 14 big bridges, 105 small bridges and RUB along with 30 ROBs have been constructed in the stretch.
The stations include Pipradih, Urwan, Barhi, Padma, Kurhadaga, Kathautia, Katkansandi, Kansar Nawada and Hazaribagh. The line also crosses the famous Hazaribagh National Park that is home to several wild animals and reptiles. The project was the dream of ex-MP and former Union External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and was launched in 2004.
The project began at an estimated cost of Rs332 crore but shot upto Rs940 crore by the time of the completion. The project’s foundation stone was laid in the year 1999 by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the presence of then Railway Minister Nitish Kumar and then Energy Minister P Kumar Mangalam.
The project was targeted to complete in 2006. Two other rail projects started at that time one were Koderma-Giridih rail line a stretch of 110 kilometers at an estimated cost of Rs768.87 crore and Koderma Rail line at estimated cost of Rs418.17 crore. It is also significant that train movement was started on the Koderma-Giridih route previous year up to Nawadih a stretch of 35 kilometers.
A single rack is on ferrying passengers between Koderma and Nawadih. The new Hazaribagh Railway Station has become a centre of attraction of the town. The DEMU passenger train to be flagged off by the PM has also arrived with its five bogies. large clocks of Hazaribagh Station have started tickling, announcement system is ready and the denizens will hear ‘Passengers attention please, the train for Koderma is going to leave/ arriving Hazaribagh Station from Friday.