An announcement made by the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) to attach two unreserved second-class coaches with a train that connects Haldibari and Jalpaiguri with Calcutta via New Jalpaiguri from February 20 has brought some respite to BJP leaders here.

Since last month, the BJP had been on the back foot in the town and in Haldibari and surrounding areas of the neighbouring Cooch Behar district. This is because the railways had announced that from April the coaches of Darjeeling Mail, which would run from Haldibari to NJP every day and was then attached with the main train, would be withdrawn as the existing coaches would be replaced by LHB (Linke Hoffman Busch) ones.

The announcement had led to protests in Jalpaiguri, and had invited criticism from different quarters.

On Tuesday, the NFR issued a notification mentioning that the number of coaches of the Haldibari-Kolkata Express would be increased from 13 to 15. The train runs from Haldibari and Calcutta thrice in a week.

“We have time and again mentioned that the Centre will take steps to improve rail connectivity in Jalpaiguri and Haldibari. Work of the Haldibari-Chilahati (Bangladesh) route is going on in full swing and now, it has been decided to add two more coaches to this train. It will largely benefit people of Jalpaiguri district and those residing in the Haldibari block of Cooch Behar,” said Jayanta Roy, the BJP MP of Jalpaiguri.