Bhubaneswar: The East Coast Railway (ECoR) is running special trains from Puri to Patna and Bhagalpur in Bihar and Hatia in Jharkhand ahead of Chhath Puja.
Two special trains will run from Puri in Odisha to Hatia and Bhagalpur on Wednesday, ECoR said in a statement.
The Puri-Hatia-Puri special train will depart Puri at 1.30 pm on Wednesday and reach Hatia at 4 am the next day. In the return direction, the train will leave Hatia at 9 am on Thursday and reach Puri at 11 pm the same day, it said.
En route, the train will halt at Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Angul, Sambalpur City, Jharsuguda and Rourkela railway stations.
The Puri-Bhagalpur-Puri special train will leave Puri at 10.30 am on October 30 and November 6 and reach Bhagalpur at 7 am on the following days.
In the return direction, the train will leave Bhagalpur at 8.30 am on October 31 and November 7 and will reach Puri at 6.45 am on the following days, the release said.
En route, the train will stop at Khurda Road, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Bhadrak, Balasore, Hijli, Midnapur, Bankura, Adra, Asansol, Durgapur, Sainthia, Rampurhat, Gumani, Barharwa and Sahibganj stations.
While one Puri-Patna-Puri special train has already left Puri on October 26 and returned to the pilgrim centre on October 28 from Patna, another will leave the Odisha town at 9.25 am on November 2 and reach the Bihar capital at 6.15 am the next day.
In the return direction, the special train will leave Patna at 1.45 pm on November 3 and will reach Puri at 9.45 am the next day, it said.
En route, the train will halt at Khurda Road, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Bhadrak, Balasore, Hijli, Midnapur, Bankura, Adra, Asansol, Chittaranjan, Madhupur, Jasidih, Jhajha, Kiul, Mokama and Bakhtiapur stations.