The Deoghar Express was on Friday flagged off by Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and Union Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain at Agartala Railway Station.
The starting of the weekly express is ending a long wait for a direct train to Deoghar, a pilgrimage for devotees of Sri Sri Thakur Anukul Chandra.
State Transport Minister Pranajit Singha Roy, two MPs – Jharna Das Baidya, Sankar Prasad Dutta – chief secretary Sanjeev Ranjan and MLAs Ramprashad Paul, Dr Dilip Das, Krishnadhan Das, BJP State prabhari Sunil Deodhar were present in the flagging off ceremony.
While speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Deb said, “Connectivity plays key role in making a State developed and this (connectivity) has been improved in the State over the past four years.”
The Chief Minister thanked the Prime Minister for turning the Northeast into ‘HIRA’ though better connectivity in the region and also praised Railways Minister Piyush Goyal for starting the new train for the pilgrims on the birthday of Shyamaprashad Mukharjee.
He also praised Swapan Debbarma and his child who only a few days back taking risk of their lives had averted a rail mishap saving more than 2500 lives.
In his speech, Gohain claimed, “India has witnessed a lot of positive changes under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has given highest importance to the northeastern region and Tripura will highly be benefited.”
Gohain further hoped Tripura would be the best State among the NE States once it is connected with Akhaura and Chittagong port in Bangladesh but the work in the other side of the border needs to expedite the work.
The train having 16 coaches will travel 1462 km in 39 hours to reach Deoghar. There will be 20 stoppages on its way from Agartala to Deoghar.
At present 12 trains are running from Agartala Railway Station and more are in the offing.