Maligaon, January 3 (MExN): Union Minister of Railways, Communications, Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw flagged off a new daily express train between Balurghat and Sealdah through video conferencing from New Delhi on Monday. This new train will foster the socio-economic development of the service area. It will further boost the railway connectivity of the South Dinajpur district with its state capital, Kolkata.
Railway Minister termed this new service as a ‘New Year gift’ for the people of the state especially North Bengal districts, stated a press release issued by Sabyasachi De, Chief Public Relations Officer, NFR.
In his inaugural speech, the Railway Minister emphasised the vision of PM to develop the state of West Bengal and mentioned about allocating funds of Rs 11,970 crore during the current year for various projects. Under the Amrit Bharat Station development scheme, 98 stations of West Bengal including 26 stations of North Bengal were to be converted to World Class Stations. Balurghat railway station is also included for development under this scheme. Railway Minister also mentioned that, Rs 633 crore is also to be invested for the new railway line project between Balurghat and Hilli station. Railway Minister also mentioned about massive up gradation of various passenger amenities by addition of Foot Over bridges, Lifts, Escalators etc in various stations of the state.
Dr Sukanta Kumar Majumdar, Member of Parliament of Lok Sabha from Balurghat along with other senior official from Railways was present at Balurghat station. Dr Ashok Kr Lahiri, MLA of Balurghat and the General Manager of NFR, Chetan Kr Shrivastava joined the programme through video conferencing.
The newly introduced train no. 13189/13190 Sealdah-Balurghat-Sealdah express will leave Balurghat at 07-00 pm to reach Sealdah at 04-20 am next morning. During return journey it will leave from Sealdah at 10-30 pm to reach Balurghat at 08-30 am next morning. The train will stop at 13 stations enroute viz. Rampur Bazar, Gangarampur, Buniadpur, Gazole, Eklakhi, Malda Town, New Farakka, Jangipur Road, Azimganj, Katwa, Nabadwip Dham, Bandel and Naihati stations to reach Sealdah. The regular service from Sealdah will start on January 2 and from Balurghat on January 3, respectively. The train will run with modern LHB coaches to enhance the safety and comfort of the journey of passengers.
