Patna: The newly-built Digha Bridge Halt was opened to the public on Saturday and now around a dozen trains will make a halt there.
Local passengers will benefit the most, as they will not have to go Patliputra Junction to board the train. Union minister of state for rural development Ram Kripal Yadav, who is also the Patlipura MP, inaugurated the Digha-Bridge halt and dedicated it to the people along with Danapur divisional railway manager (DRM) Ranjan Prakash Thakur.
It was a long-pending demand of residents to make the halt and finally it has come true. Constructed at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore, the 400m-long halt is equipped with basic facilities, including urinal and shades.
The Digha-Bridge Halt was the only halt before the Digha-Sonepur rail-cum-road bridge which is the longest bridge of the Indian Railways over the Ganga with a length of 4.5km.
On the first day, the Barauni-Patliputra Passenger (55230) was flagged off by Ram Kripal and from tomorrow onwards several other trains will make a halt of two minutes.
The passenger trains which will stop include Patna-Barauni Memu, Patliputra-Muzaffarpur, Patliputra-Barauni, Patliputra-Gorakhpur, Patliputra-Barauni and Patna-Barauni Memu.
DRM Thakur said: "Altogether 12 trains will stop at the halt and it located just on the main Digha Road. If people are coming from the Sonepur side, they have to go to Patliputra via Gandhi Maidan and then catch a train. However now, one can directly reach the Digha-Bridge halt and it will save them at least one hour."
Thakur said many people will enjoy the benefit because as per the government railway police data, there would be footfall of at least 10,000 at this halt every day. On Saturday when the train was flagged off, around 1,000 people had gathered from nearby localities.
The distance between the Digha-Sonepur bridge and this halt is around 2km.
A resident of Digha, Mithlesh Tiwari, said: "It was our long-pending demand to make the halt at Digha Bridge for stoppage of train and I am happy that finally the railways has fulfilled our dream."
