Keeping His Promise, Piyush Goyal Gives Naxal-Hit Dantewada District Its First Express Train

Tuesday, the 21st of November was a special day for the people of Naxal-hit Kirandul (in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh), as they will no longer have to travel miles to Jagdalpur to board an ‘Express’ train.

Thanks to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, who has approved the extension of the existing special train between Visakhapatnam-Jagdalpur upto Kirandul from 21 November 2017, people will not have to travel 80 km from Kiransul to Jagdalpur to get on an Express train and travel to Delhi.

This is the first ‘Express’ category train for the people of Kirandul which is a left wing extremist affected area. Currently, there is only one passenger train running in the area for the past 40 years.

With this train, people of Dantewada district will now be able to board an 'express' train from Kirandul itself instead of travelling 80 km to Jagdalpur station. This has been a demand from the locals that has been pending for more than three decades.

Goyal had during his recent tour to Chhattisgarh promised to extend this train to Kirandul following a request from Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Dr Raman Singh. This promise was fulfilled within a fortnight of Goyal’s visit to Chhattisgarh.

With the arrival of the first Mail and Express train to Kirandul, the locals will be connected to Delhi, Chennai, Howrah and other major stations via Visakhapatnam.

The overnight train will service Kirandul daily with full security and will be accompanied by Railway Protection Force personnel. Officials said that overall security measures have been upgraded in the area and patrolling and intelligence coordination between the varied agencies have also been reviewed.