Want to beat the busy road traffic and reach Patna Ghat in Patna City, 15km from Digha Ghat, in the shortest possible time? Just locate the Digha Ghat station amidst shanties and mounds of garbage and catch the passenger train.
The station has no platform, shades or signal, but the train has been in service from 1862 and was re-launched in 2004 after a brief hiatus.
Local residents and Bihar Daily Passengers' Association (BDPA) have recently lodged a strong protest over the lack of amenities at the station and have demanded its renovation.
Passengers find it extremely difficult to board the train and disembark because of the encroachments on either side of the station. The track, almost buried by multiple layers of soil, runs cheek by jowl with shanties and heaps of garbage.
The station resembles a dumping yard and lacks even a nameplate. The timetable was last updated on January 1, 2007. In fact, the train numbers displayed on the chart are 585/586 and 587/588, whereas they have actually changed to 73213 (585) and 73214 (586) and 587 (73216) and 588 (73215).
The train passes through the busy Bailey Road five times a day in rush hour, triggering traffic jam. The ticket window opens 10 minutes before the train departs. Less than hundred passengers buy a ticket for Rs 10 on each journey.
"Digha Ghat station looks like a dumping yard. I travel by this train regularly but every time I board it, I feel wasting my energy. But it saves time and is cheap. A bus or auto ride from Digha Ghat to Patna Ghat costs up to Rs 50 and takes more than an hour through the congested Ashok Rajpath. The train journey takes barely 15 minutes," said Naveen Kumar, a resident of Digha.
The station falls under the Danapur division of East Central Railway (ECR) and the only motive of continuing the economically non-viable service is to prevent 71.25 acres of railway land (with a market price of almost Rs 900 crore) from encroachment. ECR chief public relations officer Arvind Kumar Rajak said: "The railways cannot afford to renovate the station, hardly any passenger boards that train. It bears the huge revenue loss to keep it safe from encroachments. We are aware of the condition of the station but are helpless."
BDPA secretary Shuiab Quraishi said: "If the station is developed and facilities created, more people will use this train, helping generate more revenue."
