State gets 4 of 6 Vande Bharat Exp trains flagged off by PM

Patna/Bhagalpur: Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off six Vande Bharat Express trains through videoconferencing from Ranchi, with CM Nitish Kumar and his deputy Samrat Choudhary attending the ceremony virtually from his house here in Patna on Sunday.
Of the six, Bihar has got four — Tatanagar-Patna, Gaya-Howrah, Varanasi-Deoghar and Bhagalpur-Howrah Vande Bharat Express.With this Bhagalpur under Malda division of Eastern Railway got its first direct train to Howrah (West Bengal).

The railways made special arrangements to welcome the Tatanagar-Patna Vande Bharat Express in the state capital. Patna Sahib MP Ravi Shankar Prasad, deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha and legislative assembly speaker Nand Kishore Prasad Yadav attended the function at Patna Junction, Danapur senior divisional commercial manager Abhinav Siddarth said, adding it will run six days a week except Mondays, covering a distance of 451km in seven hours and 15 minutes.
It will stop at Chandil, Muri, Bokaro Steel City, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Gomoh, Parasnath, Koderma and Gaya. Semi-high-speed Gaya-Howrah Vande Bharat Express (22303/22304) made its inaugural run as a special train (02304) at 10.50am, and was scheduled to reach the West Bengal railway station at 7pm. It, however, will make its regular run from Wednesday, six days a week, except Thursdays, said East Central Railway’s chief public relations officer Saraswati Chandra. “It will leave Howrah at 6.50am and reach Gaya at 12.30pm with stoppages at Koderma, Parasnath, Dhanbad, Asansol and Durgapur. On its return, it will leave Gaya at 3.15pm and reach Howrah at 9.05pm,” he said.
During Sunday’s special run, Union minister for micro, small and medium enterprises, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Gaya MLA Prem Kumar and Aurangabad MP Abhay Kushwaha were present at Gaya Junction. About 150 schoolchildren from Gaya city were given a free ride on the Vande Bharat Express.
Besides, Varanasi-Deoghar and Bhagalpur-Howrah Vande Bharat Express also made inaugural runs as special trains from Baidyanath Dham and the Bihar city on the day.
Minister of state for railways Ravneet Singh Bittu was present at Bhagalpur railway station during the flag-off ceremony.
Bittu, who was cheered by a large crowd at Bhagalpur railway station, said expansion of rail connectivity in Bihar and other states is aimed at boosting the economy.
The inaugural run of the 22310 Bhagalpur-Howrah Vande Bharat Express commenced at 11.15am, while according to the normal schedule, it will depart at 3.20pm and reach Howrah at 9.20pm with stoppages at Barahat, Mandar Hill, Hansdiha, Nonihat, Dumka, Rampur Hat, Bolpur Shantiniketan and Howrah. The 22309 Howrah-Bhagalpur Vande Bharat Express will start at 7.45am and reach the Bihar city at 14.05pm. It will not run on Fridays.