Jyoti Prakash Mukherjee
The Sahebganj Loop Line is one of the most important railway lines in the Howrah division of the Eastern Railway. Everyday, many passengers take the train to visit the dream of ‘Gurudev’ Rabindranath Tagore at Shantiniketan. Pilgrims arrive at various pilgrimage sites. Daily commuters travel to various government offices and educational institutions in Bardhaman. Patients from various areas of the district including Birbhum go to Bardhaman Medical College and Hospital for treatment. Although the importance of this railway line is immense in all respects, the passengers of this line have been subjected to extreme neglect for a long time.
Almost every train runs late on most days. Local trains that run on time are unnecessarily kept waiting at various stations for a long time because of the late express trains.
Since the lockdown, several trains have been stopped in up and down. The up Malda Town local train from Bardhaman was stopped in the morning. As a result, agricultural workers and passengers coming to Guskara for various purposes are facing a lot of problems. Without considering the problems of local passengers, an up local train leaving Bardhaman was stopped at 10 am. Since there was no local train after 9 am, local train passengers were seen waiting at various stations for more than 6 hours.
The locals had long hoped that before the Visva-Bharati Fast Passenger in Down, a MEMU train might be given from Bolpur to Sealdah, which would run as a galloping train from Bardhaman. Again, it will leave Sealdah by 5 pm. Guskara, located between Bardhaman and Bolpur, is an important station. Many passengers from the vast area of Ausgram, Mangalkot, Bhatar blocks commute from here. Traders buy goods from Kolkata and supply them to the local markets including Guskara to support their families. They say that if a MEMU train leaves from Guskara to Sealdah at 5-5.30 pm, it will be very convenient for their work.There is no train to Sealdah in the morning. The one that was, i.e. the Benares Sealdah train, has been stopped. There is a demand to restart it. Many people want to go to Dakshineswar but cannot go directly due to the lack of a train. Several deputations have been given to the railway department several times before demanding a stoppage of several express trains in Guskara, but it has not been resolved.
This line has been plagued by thousands of such problems for a long time. It does not seem that any political party including the railway department has any idea to solve the problem. |
Now thousands of ordinary passengers on this line, including the Guskaras, are waiting to see if the Railway Department will do something good for them.