In what comes as good news to the people of north Bengal, the region is all set to get two new long distance train services in the next few days.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to virtually inaugurate the first Amrit Bharat train, including one route from Malda tomorrow, another train Balurghat-Sealdah-Balurghat Express would be flagged off by the railways minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw through videoconferencing on 1 January 2024.
The PM is to virtually flag off two new Amrit Bharat trains, including Darbhanga-Ayodhya-Anand Vihar Terminal Amrit Bharat Express and Malda Town-Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminus (Bengaluru) Amrit Bharat Express tomorrow.
The Amrit Bharat train from Malda has been named as Malda Town-Bengaluru Amrit Bharat Express. Numbered as 13434, the express train is to be operated weekly on Sundays at 8.50am to reach Bangaluru on Tuesday. On the return journey, the train, 13433, is to start from Bangaluru on Thursday at 11am.
In addition, Mr Modi is also to flag off six new Vande Bharat trains, namely Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra-New Delhi Vande Bharat Express; Amritsar-Delhi Vande Bharat Express; Coimbatore-Bangalore Cantt Vande Bharat Express; Mangalore-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express; Jalna-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express and Ayodhya-Anand Vihar Terminal Vande Bharat Express tomorrow.
The other new train that the state is slated to get on Monday is numbered as 13189 for up and 13190 for the down direction. The regular run of the train is to commence from Sealdah on 2 January and from Balurghat from 3 January. The train, as informed by the Eastern Railway, is to have daily service.
The 13189 Sealdah-Balurghat Express would leave Sealdah at 10.30pm and arrive at Balurghat at 8.30am the next day. In the other direction, 13190 Balurghat-Sealdah Express would start from Balurghat at 7pm and arrive at Sealdah station at 4.20am on the next day. As informed by the ER, the train will stop at Naihati, Bandel, Nabadwipdham, Katwa, Azimganj, Jangipur Road, New Farakka, Malda Town, Eklakhi, Gazole, Buniadpur, Ganga Rampur and Rampur stations en route in both the directions.