Sambalpur, Sept. 12: Bargarh residents, who want to catch the Puri Intercity Express, would get a bus to reach the railway station.

A Bargarh-Sambalpur bus service has been launched mainly to provide the Bargarh residents, who want to board the train, a connecting transport.

The bus will leave Bargarh around 4.30am and reach Sambalpur railway station, from where the Puri Intercity Express departs at 6.05am.

Similarly, on the return journey, the Bargarh residents will alight from the train in Sambalpur at 10.10pm and get the bus to Bargarh from there.

Burla residents will also benefit from the service after it gets operational.

The Paschim Odisha Paribahan Company has partnered with the state government to run and manage the bus service. The company's chief executive officer Bipin Bhatia has informed about this bus service proposal.

The Bargarh residents have welcomed the decision. "Several people from this region depend on the Sambalpur-Puri Intercity Express to go to Bhubaneswar. However, as the train leaves Sambalpur early in the morning, the people of Bargarh town, which is 50km away, often face inconvenience to reach Sambalpur railway station by that time. Now, the problem will be resolved after the proposal of running the city bus is implemented," said Bargarh resident Anup Kumar Panda.

"Hundreds of people, who make a trip to Bhubaneswar every day, will benefit after the city bus gets operational. The concerned authority should materialise the proposal as early as possible," said another Bargarh resident, Kiriti Pradhan.

The city bus service began in and around Sambalpur with only six buses on January 29, 2014. At present, 28 city buses are plying on 11 routes in and around the city.