Kolkata, Nov. 18 -- Eastern Railway's Sealdah Division has announced a series of new and extended suburban services, including the introduction of an AC local on the Sealdah-Kalyani route, Sunday operations for the Sealdah-Krishnanagar City Junction AC local, and additional evening trains to ease travel for Metro-connected passengers.
The new Sealdah-Kalyani AC local will run from Monday to Saturday, departing Sealdah at 3:10 pm and reaching Kalyani at 4:32 pm.
The return service will leave Kalyani at 5:02 pm and arrive in Sealdah at 6:20 pm, halting at nine stations including Bidhannagar, Dum Dum, Barrackpore, Naihati and Kanchrapara. Officials said the service would provide much-needed, high-quality connectivity to Kalyani, an important educational and medical hub.
The Sealdah-Krishnanagar City Junction AC local will now run on Sundays as well. On Sundays, it will leave Sealdah at 11:55 am and reach Krishnanagar at 2:20 pm, returning at 3:57 pm to reach Sealdah at 6:20 pm. The Monday-Saturday schedule will remain unchanged.
To improve last-mile links for Metro commuters, a new Dum Dum Cantonment-Bangaon local will depart daily from Dum Dum Cantonment at 8:05 pm. Another new service will run from Bangaon to Barasat, leaving at 10 pm.
The division has also proposed extensions to three existing services. A BBD Bag-Barrackpore local may be extended to Kalyani, while a Barrackpore-Sealdah local is proposed to originate from Kalyani. A Hasnabad-Barasat local may also be extended to Dum Dum Cantonment.
Officials are additionally considering extending several Up trains that currently terminate at intermediate stations between Barasat and Bangaon-such as Duttapukur, Thakurnagar and Gobardanga-up to Bangaon. The rationalisation aims to reduce confusion among peak-hour passengers, ensuring that most services in the direction of Bangaon run through to the terminal station.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.