Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday flagged off extension of services of three trains — Bhubaneswar-Koraput Express, Puri-Dhenkanal Passenger, the Puri-Palasa Passenger — through video conferencing.
The services of the Bhubaneswar-Koraput Express was extended up to Jagdalpur while that of the Puri-Dhenkanal Passenger train was enhanced up to Talcher from Bhubaneswar railway station.
Similarly, Puri-Palasa Passenger will now run up to Parlakhemundi in Gajapati district from Puri Railway station.
Mr Arvind Kumar Vohra, general manager, East Coast Railway who was present on the occasion, said the extension of the services of the three trains would benefit a larger sections of people, especially the rural masses, to get connected with major cities, including the capital city Bhubaneswar and make their travel more comfortable and cheaper.
Mr Vohra also stated that the survey for new lines between Rayagada-Gopalpur, Junagarh-Ambaguda, Khurda Road-Rajathagarh bypassing Bhubaneswar, Kantabanji-Jeypore, Sambalpur-Brahmapur, Bolangir-Naupada, Dantewada-Malkangiri, Talcher-Phulbani and Junagarh-Malkangiri have been taken up and are in various stages of progress.
“To cater the rush of passengers in peak season East Coast Railway has run 559 special trains and augmented with 5113 coaches in different trains during this year. ECoR also upgraded 74 stations by executing different traffic facility works to improve efficiency and to avoid congestion,” he informed.