Workers paint the platform of Dhubri station on Sunday for the flagging-off. Telegraph picture

Dhubri, Sept. 12: After nearly 22 years, a train will chug out of Dhubri station tomorrow when railway minister Mamata Banerjee will flag off the Dhubri-Kamakhya Fast Passenger train at 10am through video-conferencing from New Jalpaiguri station.

Hundreds of people today assembled at Dhubri station as soon as the 810 Down Dhubri Kamakhya Fast Passenger rolled in for tomorrow’s inaugural trip.

Sources said after flagging off the train, Mamata would inaugurate the Alipur-Lumding Passenger train in Alipur and a computerised reservation centre at Gossaigaon station.

Train services between Dhubri and Gouripur were disrupted in 1988 after devastating floods damaged tracks at several places.

Railway officials at Dhubri said services were restored on the meter gauge line but it did not last for law and order problems.

Partha P. Dutta, a resident of Dhubri town and retired SBI manager, said it was great to learn that train services would be resumed from Dhubri.

Dutta said train services from Dhubri to Kamakhya would end the agony of the commuters who often had to face bandhs, road blockades and strikes in the lower Assam districts.

While reminiscing about the joy of travelling by train from Dhubri to Guwahati, Dutta said trains, ships and planes were the three modes of transports which connected this area with the rest of country till Partition in 1947.

“Train has, however, remained special to me as it was not only the lifeline but very close to the heart of the people of this area. Before Partition people used to travel by train to Gauhati (now Guwahati) and also to Dacca (Dhaka) and Calcutta,” Dutta said.

The chairman of Dhubri Municipal Board, Himabrata Majumdar, said a long-pending demand of the people of this area was going to be fulfilled following the resumption of train services from tomorrow.

“My resident is close to the railway station and in my childhood I would play in the railway yard and also travel by train. It really gives me immense pleasure to see trains’ arrival and departure sitting at my residence enjoying the sweet sound of whistles,” Majumdar added.

The joint convener of the New Moinaguri-Jogighopa BG Railway Line Demand Committee, Tazmul Hoque, while welcoming the inauguration of the Dhubri-Kamakhya train, said the railway ministry had to prove its sincerity by completing the broad gauge railway line on schedule.

“Moreover, there is threat perception on this track which has to be closely watched by Railway Protection Force to ensure that under no circumstances train services are disrupted on law and order situation,” Hoque added.