Devotees who will head for Deoghar next month have a reason to be happy.
The South Eastern Railway (SER) has decided to introduce a Shravani Mela Express between Tatanagar and Jasidih stations to clear the rush of kanwariyas to Baidyanath Dham. The train will run from August 1 to 30.
Railway officials informed that the 12-coach train (10 general compartments and two guard vans) would run on all days of the week, barring Tuesdays and Fridays, from Tatanagar. From Jasidih, the train will not run on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
According to officials at Garden Reach, the South Eastern Railway headquarters in Calcutta, the special train will leave Tatanagar at 11.45pm and reach Jasidih at 7.30am the next day. On its return journey, it will depart from Jasidih at 11.10am and arrive at Tatanagar at 5.30pm.
"The decision to introduce the train was taken to cater to the rush of devotees travelling to Deoghar during the holy month of Shravan," said O.P. Sharma, the station manager of Tatanagar.
The notification issued by South Eastern Railway says that the train will halt at Adityapur, Kandra, Chandil, Barabhum, Purulia, Anara, Jai Chandi Pahar, Burnpur, Asansol, Chittaranjan, Vidyasagar and Madhupur, and a few other stations between Tatanagar and Jasidih. It will follow exactly the same route on its return journey.
Last year, around 200,000 devotees had visited Deoghar from the Chakradharpur division. Apart from Jharkhand, kanwariyas from neighbouring states such as Bihar and Odisha also throng the famous temple during the holy month. So, railway officials are expecting a similar turnout, if not more, this time.
Besides the Deoghar special train, the South Eastern Railway authorities have also notified that the Howrah-Titlagarh Superfast Express will halt at Posaita on August 2, 9, 16 and 23 so that people can visit Mahadevshal, a pilgrimage in Goelkera block of West Singhbhum. Mahadevshal station falls on the Howrah-Mumbai main line.
Sources said another notification on making Mahadevshal a halt for some other trains passing through the Chakradharpur division was expected in the next few days.
Services hit
Train services were affected in the SER's Chakradharpur division on Thursday due to maintenance work on a bridge near Rourkela, Odisha.
Tatanagar-Bilaspur Passenger will not ply while Hatia-Puri Tapaswini and Howrah-Jagdalpur Express will run on a diverted route till July 12. Also, Hatia-Jharsuguda Passenger will be short-terminated at Orga station.
