From January 2024, residents of Malda can take the New Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express from Malda town station to reach the national capital.

On Sunday, senior officials of Eastern Railway (ER) announced that the Anand Vihar Terminal-Agartala Tejas Rajdhani Express will run through Malda Town station from next year. Anand Vihar Terminal is a station in Delhi.

From January 17, the train will halt at Malda station, said Vikash Chaube, the divisional railway manager of Malda division, Eastern Railway.

This is the first time that residents of Malda would get the opportunity to board Rajdhani Express from their district.

The train will leave both Agartala and Anand Vihar every Wednesday, a railway source said.

“On its way to Delhi, the train would depart from Malda at 3.10pm to reach Anand Vihar at 10.50am the next day. While returning, the train will leave Anand Vihar at 7.50pm to reach Malda at 4.25pm the next day. It would be a 20-hour journey between Malda and Delhi,” he said.

For those travelling between Malda and Anand Vihar, four seats in the first class, and 20 and 30 seats in two-tier and three-tier air-conditioned coaches, respectively, would be available.

On Sunday, as reservations opened for the train, Khagen Murmu, the BJP MP of Malda North, and Sreerupa Mitra Chaudhury, the BJP MLA of Englishbazar, booked their seats from the reservation counter.

Both the BJP and Trinamul have claimed credit for introducing the Rajdhani's halt in Malda, leading to a political tug-of-war.

Bus service

The North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC) has decided to resume its daily bus service between Alipurduar and Calcutta ahead of Durga Puja.

Around three months back, the bus service had stopped because there were too few buses.

Partha Pratim Roy, the chairman of the NBSTC, said that they were bringing in three buses to enable the resumption of the service.

“We want to start the bus service ahead of Durga Puja. Every day, a pair of buses will run between Alipurduar and Calcutta. This service, we hope, will help local residents as well as tourists visiting the region,” said Roy.

Additional reporting by our Alipurduar correspondent