Patna,(BiharTimes): Following pressure from media the East Central Railway has finally announced to run Suvidha Express as per schedule. The train was withdrawn after it was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 25. It was something very unusual to happen.
But after the Times of India carried a first page news to be followed by BiharTimes the Railway was compelled to relent. But it was not so simple.
According to sources the Railway kept the PMO in dark and quietly withdrew the train. When the media broke the news the PMO took up the matter on priority basis. A high-level meeting was held in the Railway Board, which decided to re-introduce the train. In the meantime chief minister Nitish Kumar also questioned as to how can a train be withdrawn after being inaugurated by none else but the prime minister.
Upon this the Railway first said that it would run Suvidha Express on weekly basis. However, on August 6 the ECR published a newspaper advertisement announcing the time-table of the train. It would now run regularly from August 9 on the same old time-table. It would return on August 11.
The train will run from Patna Junction every Wednesday and Sunday at 1 PM. It will stop at just four places––—Mughalsarai, Chheoki, Jabalpur and Bhusawal––before reaching Mumbai CST at 4:05 PM the next day.
It would leave Mumbai CST every Friday and Tuesday at 11.05 AM and reach Patna the next day at 3.35 PM.
“After all it is an election year and the government at the Centre can not afford to withdraw a train after inaugurating it,” sources told BiharTimes.