Bhubaneswar: Breaking News! Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee did not offer much to the people of Orissa in her West Bengal-specific Railway Budget 2010, but people in distant regions such as Malkangiri, Nabarangpur and Phulbani will have something to celebrate.

 

Several new train routes were announced in the 2010 Railway Budget. The following new train lines have been allocated for Orissa:

 

 

Here are the new Trains announced for Orissa in the Railway Budget 2010:

• Puri-Howrah Duranto Express
• Ahmedabad-Puri-Kolkata- Varanasi-Ujjain-Ahmedabad (Bharat Tirtha train)
• Bhubaneswar-Pune weekly express
• Sambalpur- Howrah weekly express
• Baripada- Shalimar Express (tri-weekly)
• Puri-Valsad weekly express via-Katni-Bhopal-Vadodara
• Puri-Digha weekly express
• Bhubaneswar- Khurda Road passenger
• Naupada- Gunupur passenger (after gauge conversion)

In addition, survey will be made for new train lines in Talcher-Phulbani-Lanjigarh and Gunupur-Theruballi-Junagarh-Jeypore route. Delang-Puri and Talcher-Sambalpur will have double track rain lines. A wagon manufacturing factory will be built either at Bhubaneswar or Kalahandi. Cuttack will get a multi-disciplinary training centre, which holds no importance for the people of Orissa. 

 

The Railway Minister announced 10 Duronto trains in the Railway Budget 2010. There will be one Duronto Express between Howrah-Puri. Not surprisingly, West Bengal got 5 Duronto trains.

Orissa received an allocation of Rs 836.64 crore in the Railway Budget 2010, against the state's demand of Rs 1805 crore. It can be noted that the Indian Railways receive at an estimated Rs 6,000 crore revenue from various stations in Orissa every year.

Nabarangpur MP and State Youth Congress President, Pradeep Majhi is a happy man, as he managed to  lobby hard and bring the rail lines to Orissa's underdeveloped ribal regions - Nabarangpur and Malkangiri, which remained neglected by the Railways since Independence.