Passengers bound for Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore can look forward to catching their trains from the new Patliputra Junction. Almost two years after its construction and five missed inauguration programmes, train services will finally start from the new station, located 12km northwest of Patna Junction, from Wednesday.
The railways has decided to run two pairs of new trains from Patliputra Junction: the Patliputra-Chandigarh Express (13255) at 8.30pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and Patliputra-Yesvantpur Express at 8.15pm every Friday.
Apart from these, the railways plans to run 15547/Jaynagar-Mumbai Lokmanya Tilak Terminal Jansadharan Weekly Express, 12150/Patna-Pune SF Express and 12296/Sanghamitra Superfast Express (Patna Junction-Bengaluru City Junction) - all of which depart from Patna Junction now - from Patliputra Junction.
Even Delhi-bound trains are expected to depart from Patliputra Junction in the coming days, and the new station is expected to reduce the pressure on Patna Junction, Rajendra Nagar Terminal and Danapur through which around 350 trains pass daily.
"After lot of effort both by the railways and the state government, all hurdles in the way of the long-awaited Patliputra Junction have been cleared and train services from the junction would commence from December 16, 2015," said Arvind Kumar Rajak, chief public relations officer, East Central Railway.
The land-related hurdles were resolved by mutual understanding after the Bihar government agreed to give up land to the railways in exchange of land passing through Rupaspur and Jalalpur villages. Earlier, the railways could not make this junction operational because of agitations launched by residents of the two villages who demanded that the road passing along the track through their locality be repaired first.
"This is big news for us, as we will not need to go Patna Junction to catch trains anymore," said an excited Navneet Kumar, a resident of Vijay Nagar near Patliputra Junction. "I hope that the railways will live up to the expectations of the people and slot more trains from this junction."
In November 2012, the commissioner of railway safety gave the green light to run trains from Patliputra Junction. Since then, the station has missed five inauguration deadlines - April 2013, August 15, 2013, September 6, 2013, October 31, 2013, and the last one on October 2, 2014.
In the past week, the state government launched a drive to clear encroachments. The platforms and tracks had become shelters for slum dwellers from nearby areas and the parking lot had become a place for people learning to drive. Two days ago, a Government Railway Police barrack was set up at the junction to deter such encroachers.
The two-storey junction building has a rest room for travelling ticket examiners, wooden benches for passengers, and drinking water facility. Lights have been installed at the three platforms through which five tracks pass. The platform can accommodate 24-compartment trains.
