Pataliputra station to be delayed

The construction of Pataliputra station on Bailey Road near Rukunpura here, which was to become functional in June 2006, will be delayed further for a few years even as work on this new station building is going on in full swing at an estimated cost of Rs 1.5 crore.

The project is now likely to be completed by the end of 2011 with the Ganga rail bridge work being carried out at the Digha-Sonepur site.

According to sources, the railways have completed the earth work on the southern side right from the Phulwari FCI godown to the Bailey Road. As per the approved plan, the Pataliputra station building is being constructed at Rukunpura near the Khagaul canal. The track laying work has been almost completed at the southern alignment from Phulwari FCI godown to Digha, sources said.

An ECR official said the railways intend to complete the alignment work on priority basis first as it will help it in rushing heavy bridge materials directly to the site by goods trains. The railways are likely to finalise the super-structure portion work of the bridge soon. In that case, the railways will have to rush iron materials frequently to the site.

A road over bridge (ROB) is also being constructed on Bailey Road near the Pataliputra station building at a cost of Rs 20 crore. M/S Tantia Company of West Bengal has been awarded the contract of construction work of the ROB. Unless this ROB is completed, the railways cannot run goods trains up to Digha carrying heavy materials to the site for bridge construction, he said.

According to sources, this ROB will have four lanes providing smooth movement of vehicular traffic on Bailey Road. The railways would lay tracks linking Pataliputra station to the Danapur and Phulwari end railway lines only after completion of this ROB, sources said.

Sources said the railways had earlier planned to build the Pataliputra station as a terminal station keeping in mind the fact that all incoming trains from north Bihar would terminate there. However, the railways now intend to build a washing pit at the Pataliputra station to maintain coaches.

Since Danapur and Patna stations are close to Pataliputra, railways are planning to make these two old stations the terminal points only so that passengers could easily board trains for north Bihar side from there, sources said.

An ECR official maintained that Patna, which has become the main hub of passenger trains, will find it difficult to cope with rush of both passenger and goods trains after commissioning of the Ganga rail bridge in 2011-2012. Thus, there is a need to build more terminals in and around Patna Junction to keep Patna free from heavy traffic congestion in future, he said.