Kendrapara: Goods trains started plying on the Haridaspur-Paradip rail route via Kendrapara district from July 24, 2020. At present, over 30 goods trains are running daily on the route. However, over three years after the launch of train services on this line, passenger train service is yet to see the light of the day. Railway authorities had assured that a Paradip-Keonjhar memu train will soon ply on the route but it is yet to become a reality. Notably, a resident Goutam Kumar Behera of Utkalmani Yuvak Sangha, a youth outfit of Deuli village under Pattamundai block had written to the Railway authorities demanding passenger train services on the route.
In reply to his letter, DR Paul, deputy chief operations manager of railways (letter no-95/22) had mentioned that a memu train will run soon from Paradip to Keonjhar. In his reply, the official had also informed that there is lack of infrastructure and need of supervision by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) following which a memu train can run on the route. When contacted, Goutam Kumar Behera said that the first goods train started on Haridaspur-Paradip new broad gauge railway line via Kendrapara district from July 24, 2020.
Since then, three years have passed but passenger train service is yet to be launched on the route. The proposal for construction of a rail route between Haridaspur and Paradip was first moved in FY 1996-97. The project got shelved for long and was finally completed after many hiccups. Residents have been regularly demanding passenger train services on the route, but their pleas are yet to be addressed. The youth outfit Utkalmani Yuvak Sangha also submitted a memorandum to Railway authorities in this regard. It was also assured that passenger train services will be launched on the route after the necessary infrastructure is put in place and the existing infrastructure supervised. The district’s residents are hopeful that a passenger train will soon ply the route. Congress leader Soumendra Prusty said that the district Congress leaders had submitted a memorandum to the Union Minister of Railways and the Governor in 2021. The district Congress workers had even staged a rail roko agitation, November 9 2021. He said that over 3 lakh migrants returned to the district during the spread of Covid pandemic in 2020. The struggles and sufferings they faced in order to get back home were reported in various media. Prusty lamented that the district is yet to see passenger train service despite so many people from Kendrapara working outside the state. Any person wishing to take a train to his destination has to go to Paradip, Cuttack, or Haridaspur railway stations to avail of the service. He demanded that the Railway authorities should immediately introduce a passenger train service on the route in Kendrapara district.
Social activist Nihar Ranjan Pradhan said that the residents have been eagerly looking forward to the commencement of passenger train service on the route. The demand has gained momentum after Aswini Vaishnaw, a Rajya Sabha MP from Odisha, became the Union Minister of Railways. He said that the plying of passenger trains will resolve the commuting woes of the residents and help in the establishment of industrial plants in the district. Nirakar Das, a former senior railway official, said preparations are soon to be completed for beginning passenger train services on the route. A passenger train can only run after a verification of the station and signal system, he added.