BHUBANESWAR: The East Coast Railway (ECoR) on Monday informed that the new railway station in the Capital will be made functional before Rath Yatra. The new station, located at an approximate distance of 14 km from Bhubaneswar main railway station, will widely cater to the needs of passengers of the Capital and its outskirts like Patia, Barang, Nandankanan, Raghunathpur and other nearby areas.
The Ministry of Railways has given its nod in this regard, ECoR officials said, adding, initially a few passenger trains will be given stoppages and tickets will also be sold at the station. The trains are 58001/58002 Puri-Howrah Passenger, 58131/58132 Rourkela-Puri-Rourkela Passenger and 68534/68533 Cuttack-Brahmapur-Cuttack MEMU.
This apart, the Railways authorities will launch several other projects before Rath Yatra which include a new ticket counter at Bagala Dharmasala in Jajpur, a new foot over-bridge (FOB) at Berhampur railway station and a new station building and a foot over bridge (FOB) at Bhadrak station. Meanwhile, ECoR officials informed that as many as 184 special trains will run towards Puri and vice-versa to manage rush during Rath Yatra.
Special trains from Visakhapatnam, Kharagpur, Shalimar and Junagarh Road will leave on July 13 from the originating stations to Puri. Ten special trains one each from Bangiriposi, Kendujhargarh, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Paradeep, Berhampur, Palasa and three from Khurda Road will run towards Puri on July 14, the Bahuda day. Likewise, such special trains will also run towards Puri between July 15 and 23.