Dhanbad MP P.N. Singh and Giridih MP Ravindra Pandey will jointly flag off Dhanbad-Alappuzha Express (13351) from Katras station on February 24 around 11am to mark the reopening of Dhanbad-Chandrapura line, widely known as the DC line.
Preparations are on in full swing to relaunch train services on the line, 20 months after its closure following underground fire fears.
Both the MPs will board the train from Dhanbad station around 10.30am and reach Katras around 11am to flag off the train. After this, the MPs are expected to hold a public meeting at the station.
The East Central Railway had on February 13 announced a list of seven pairs of trains — six pairs of mail/express trains and one pair of passenger trains — to be restored on the DC line.
These are Howrah Ranchi Shatabdi Express (12019/ 12020), Dhanbad Alappuzha Express (13351/ 13352)), Kolkata-Madar Express (19607/ 19608), Kolkata Ahmedabad Express (19414/ 19413), Gorakhpur Hatia Express (15028/15027), Howrah Jabalpur Express (11448/11447), Dhanbad Ranchi Express (13303/13304) and Dhanbad Jhargram MEMU passenger (68020/68019).
All of these trains have been running on the Dhanbad-Gomoh line ever since the Chandrapura section closed on June 15, 2017.
Public relations officer of Dhanbad railway division P.K. Mishra said, “Renovation at Katras station and intermediate stations between Kusunda and Sonardih is almost over. Even the process of transferring staff to relaunch the unreserved ticketing system counter at Katras station is done. Signalling and overhead equipment repair work are on, but almost complete.”
The decision to relaunch trains on the DC line was taken on the basis of a report that chief commissioner of railway safety Shailesh Kumar Pathak submitted last week to the Railway Board.
Pathak gave his report based on a joint inspection with officials of mines regulator Directorate-General of Mines Safety (DGMS) of the underground fire-hit section near the DC line on January 23. In June 2017, 26 pairs of passenger and express trains had been discontinued following the closure of the DC line after the DGMS had red-flagged its safety concerns.
