Barun Bhartua (right) flags off the train at Jasidih station on Tuesday. Picture by Ajay Kumar Mandal

Dumka, July 12: A six-decade-old dream came true on the tracks today when the Jasidih-Dumka Passenger Train chugged out on its maiden journey.

The introduction of the rail link could not have come at a better time with Shravani Mela starting in three days. Lakhs of pilgrims can now take the train to reach Baidyanath Dham in Deoghar and Basukinath temple in Dumka for the month-long festival.

A railway employee posted at Jasidih railway station, Sufal Manjhi, flagged off the train around 7.35am in the presence of senior officials — including general manager of Eastern Railway Barun Bhartua, DRM of Asanjol division S.N. Jha and RPF commissioner Sunil Kumar Sinha — even as hundreds of people thronged the platform.

All eight bogies of the train were overcrowded, as everyone seemed to want to be part of the historic journey.

“I had to wait for about an hour to catch the Dumka-bound train. Yet the experience was far better when compared to the journey on bus,” said Bauwa Jha, a resident of Rasikpur locality in the town.

At Dumka, about 5,000 people had gathered at the station to welcome the train.

At present, two trains have been pressed into service along the route. They will start from Jasidih station at 7.25am and 1pm and reach Dumka at 9.10am and 2.45pm, respectively. The halts between Jasidih and Dumka are Deoghar, Mohanpur, Ghormara, Chandanpahari, Basukinath, Jama and Madanpur. The trains will start the return journey at 9.55pm and 3.40pm.

Apart from the less travel time, the cheap fare has also come as a boon for the passengers. In comparison to Rs 48 charged by passenger vehicles for a one-way trip from Jasidih to Dumka, the railway ticket for the same distance is priced at only Rs 12 per person.

However, the railways is yet to provide necessary basic amenities and make security arrangements for passengers at different stations and halts. Officials promised that these would be ready on a priority basis.

But a booking clerk, Deepankar Das, claimed that criminals damaged the wiring, lavatories and other items at Madanpur halt in the absence of proper security arrangements.

The demand for a rail link to Dumka dates back to 1952. Finally, the economic committee of the Union cabinet approved the Jasidih-Dumka railway link project on February 4, 1999. Then railway minister for state Digvijay Singh and then minister of state for forest and environment Babulal Marandi had jointly laid the foundation stone of the project on June 5, the same year.

Today, different political parties and social organisations did not forget to claim a share of the success of the project. While BJP’s Godda MP Nishikant Dubey said the rail link got the Union government’s nod during the tenure of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Bajpayee, the district unit of JVM(P) took out a motorcycle rally in Dumka in support of party president Babulal Marandi, who was instrumental in getting the project passed.

On the other hand, Congress’s Stephen Marandi claimed work on the Jasidih-Dumka route was expedited at the instance of party president Sonia Gandhi.