The new railway station of Bhawanipatna under Sambalpur division under East Coast Railway was inaugurated and 18438 Bhawanipatna-Bhubaneswar Link Express flagged off from here on Saturday evening. Lok Sabha member and former railway minister Bhakta Charan Das flagged off the train.
ECoR sources said the 18437 Bhubaneswar-Bhawanipatna Link Express will leave Bhubaneswar at 7.35 pm and will arrive at Bhawanipatna at 9 am on the next day. In the return direction, 18438 Bhawanipatna-Bhubaneswar Link Express will leave Bhawanipatna at 6.45 pm and arrive at Bhubaneswar at 08.25 am on the following day.
This new train will run with 18447/18448 Bhubaneswar-Jagadalpur-Bhubaneswar Hirakhand Express up to Rayagada and will be bifurcated from there to Bhawanipatna. It will be amalgamated with Hirakhand Express at Rayagada during its return journey.
The Raipur-Kesinga-Raipur passenger will run till Bhawanipatna from Sunday. The 58207 Raipur-Bhawanipatna passenger after arrival at Kesinga at 8 pm will leave at 8.05 pm for Bhawanipatna.
Similarly, 58208 Bhawanipatna-Raipur passenger will leave Bhawanipatna at 2.15 am and will arrive at Kesinga at 4.25 am.
Das urged upon the rail officials for early completion of Lanjigarh-Junagarh rail line from Bhawanipatna to Junagarh. He said implementation of rail wagon factory by railways will give Kalahandi a special place in rail map of India.
On the occasion, Kalahandi Rail Yatri Sangh submitted a memorandum to the ECoR officials demanding a super fast express from Bhawanipatna to Allahabad, extension of Balangir-Bhubaneswar intercity express till Bhawanipatna and Titlagarh-Howrah express to Kesinga.