Eastern Railway, Kolkata Metro to start early services on Sunday due to UPSC Prelims exam

The Eastern Railway will operate extra EMU trains in its Howrah Division on Sunday, because of the UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination. The local train services will run as normal as on weekdays from 7 AM to 6 PM tomorrow to facilitate the rush of candidates from the sub-urban areas and districts to the city.

"To cater to the expected rush of candidates for Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2024 conducted by West Bengal Public Service Commission, Eastern Railway’s Howrah Division has decided to run EMU local train services, as normal as on weekdays from 07:00 hrs. to 18:00 hrs. (on originating station basis) on 16.06.2024 (Sunday)," reads the official release by the Eastern Railway.

Kolkata metro too, will start services from 7 AM from Kavi Subhash to Dakshineswar and from Dumdum to Kavi Subhash, instead of 9 AM. Services from Dakshineswar to Kavi Subhash will also start from 7.15 AM instead of 9 AM on regular Sundays.

"On that day, 138 services (69 UP and 69 DN) will be run instead of 130 services over the entire stretch of this Corridor. Out of these, 133 services (65 UP and 68 DN) will run to and from Dakshineswar," said Kaushik Mitra, Chief Public Relations Officer, Kolkata Metro.

"The services will be run on both UP and DN directions at 30 minutes interval in between 07.00 hrs to 09.00 hrs. Timings of the last services from the terminal stations will remain unchanged," he added.

The crucial examination, a gateway to prestigious roles in the Indian bureaucracy such as the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), and Indian Foreign Service (IFS), will take place in two sessions: the first starting at 9:30 AM and the second at 2:30 PM.