One of the two new platforms at Ranchi station, which will be opened by mid-January. (Hardeep Singh)

Ranchi, Dec. 17: In a New Year gift to Jharkhand, the Indian Railways have decided to extend the Bhubaneswar-Hatia Garib Rath up to coal town Dhanbad by January 15. Two new platforms will also be inaugurated at Ranchi station.

Bowing to the demand of the people of the state, Union railway minister Mamata Banerjee, in her budget earlier this year, had announced the extension of the train.

Ranchi division senior transportation manager S.C. Banerjee today said that the Railway Board had given a go-ahead and they would soon fix a date for the train’s Dhanbad debut. “We will extend the route of the train, which runs till Hatia, up to Dhanbad before January 15 next year,” he said.

The air-conditioned Garib Rath plies three days in a week — Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays — from the Orissa capital. It arrives and departs from Hatia on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The railways also plan to open two new platforms at Ranchi station, in addition to the existing three, before mid-January. Banerjee said that after the creation of the state in 2000, railway traffic had increased manifold in the capital with several new trains being introduced over the years. “The two new platforms will ease the load on the existing ones,” he said.

In another development, new numbers of passenger trains will be enforced from December 20. Express trains that originate from Ranchi division will have the digit one prefixed to their earlier numbers. The numbers of 22 local trains running through Ranchi division have been completely changed. They will have five digits instead of two or three.

The list includes Kharagpur-Hatia Passenger, Jharsugda-Hatia Passenger, Ranchi-Lohardaga Passenger, Adra-Barkakana Passenger, Hatia-Tatanagar Passenger, Muri-Tatanagar MEMU and Muri-Ranchi MEMU.