Adhering to the promise of providing better connectivity to the people traveling to South, the South Eastern Railway (SER) on Thursday introduced a long distance train for Bangalore. On the inaugural run, the train left Tatanagar Railway Station at 2.30 pm with 400 passengers aboard. The Tatanagar-Baiyyappanahali (near Bangalore) Express, a weekly train was flagged off online (through video-conferencing facility) by the Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu (from Bangalore).
Jamshedpur MP Vidyut Baran Mahto and BJP MlAs — Saryu Roy, and Menka Sardar, senior railway officials of SER including the Assistant General Manager D Kamilla, divisional railway manager of Chakradharpur Gautam Banerjee and senior divisional commercial manager of Chakradharpur Ashok Agarwal also graced the function at Tatanagar.
"This was a long-pending demand of people of Tatanagar who frequently travel to South. In view of the passengers demand, the Railways decided to introduce the train between the two destinations. We are confident that it will immensely benefit the students who travel to Bangalore and other places in the South for Higher Education," said Kamilla , while addressing a gathering at the Tatanagar Railway Station.
According to the schedule, the weekly train will leave Tatanagar on Thursday at 6.35 pm. In Chakradharpur division, the train will pass via Chakradharpur, Rourkela and Jharsuguda. The train will stop at Sambalpur, Visakhapatnam and Secunderabad before reaching Baiyyappanahali on Saturday at 6.30 pm. It will take 48 hours to complete the journry between two destinations.
On its return journey, the train will leave Baiyyappanahalli Railway Station on Sunday at 10 am. After traveling through the same route on its return journey, the train will reach the originating station (Tatanagar) on Tuesday at 12.35 pm. Members of the Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( SCCI) and the Chhotanagpur Passenger Association, welcomed the initiative of the Railways.
Suresh Sonthalia, president of SCCI, said: "We were demanding a direct train for Visakhapatnam and Secunderabad, and with the introduction of new train the demand has been fulfilled. Apart from patients and students, it will also benefit the traders’ community.” The train has one AC two-tier, three AC-three tier, seven sleeper class bogies, six second class coaches and two luggage vans.
The Tatanagar Station is important because it is located on the Howrah-Mumbai main route. 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.