The construction of a rail link track between Buniadpur in South Dinajpur and Kaliyaganj in North Dinajpur district had been stalled due to lack of funds, according to the Divisional Railway Manager of Katihar, Northeast Frontier
Railway (NFR), Subhendu Kumar Chowdhary.

According to him, they have sought funds for the completion of the project and that work to acquire land and the construction would resume as soon as the funds are made available. Mr Choudhary was interacting with media persons at the Raiganj Railway Station after visiting both the Raiganj and Kaliyaganj stations, where he inspected the stations, this afternoon.

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Members of traders’ organisations also met the DRM and urged him to construct a rake point at Sonadangi in Raiganj. They also demanded the development of infrastructure of Platform No 2 at the Raiganj station, including the construction of a shed for passengers, installation of drinking water facilities and toilets.

“The DRM informed them that a proposal for the development of the platform had been adopted by the higher authorities and that work will start as soon as the funds are available,” a source said.

According to Mr Choudhary, the change in timings of the daytime  Radhikapur-Howrah bound train was a long-standing demand of the people here. The Radhikapur-Howrah train has remained suspended for a long period of time now, due to the Covid pandemic.

“We are trying to restart it soon. There are plans to resume the train service around three hours earlier at the Radhikapur station than the usual timings. We are holding consultations with officials of the Eastern Railway on this,” Mr Choudhary said.

It is learnt that BJP MP from Raiganj Debasree Choudhuri accompanied the DRM during his visit to the district.