One of the decorated bogies. Picture by Abhijit Chakrabarty

Balurghat, Dec. 29: The countdown to a celebration that is 21 years overdue has begun.

An air of electric expectation is already pulsing through the town, waiting to see railway minister Laloo Prasad Yadav flag off the first train from the station here tomorrow.

Those for whom the hours seemed slow in passing flocked to the platform to watch the railway staff decorate the bright blue bogies that will trundle out of the town with passengers, for the first time since Independence.

The mood is merry, almost festive. Students have decided to skip school to witness the historic event and many office-goers have chosen to take a day off.

After all, the residents said, they had been waiting for this day since 1983, when the foundation stone of the Eklakhi-Balurghat railway link was laid.

?I have been part of many inaugurations of railway lines, but I have never come across such an atmosphere. Hundreds thronged the platform to see the bogies being decorated, just like people flocking to pandals during Durga puja,? said Nripendra Bhattacharya, a public relations officer with the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR).

Skipping office or school is, however, only a part of the residents? plan for tomorrow.

Hundreds have promised to queue up at the counters when they open at 8.30 am to buy a ticket as a souvenir of the ?most memorable moment in the district?s history?.

People like Pranab Sarkar, who works for Grameen Bank and Ratan Tokedar, an employee of the public health engineering department, were at the station this evening recording the scenes at the platform.

Raj Kumar Saha, a flower trader, said: ?All my stock has been exhausted. A large number of people have placed orders for flowers. They want to greet the railway minister.?

Laloo Prasad is scheduled to flag off the train at 10.31 am. Though only one train will leave for Malda tomorrow, from the day after, it will make a journey from Malda to Balurghat and back every day.