Two Bihar Districts Await First Train After Two Decades of Promises

““The district was formed primarily because of the Bagmati River. Sitamarhi is on the other side of it and at that time there was no bridge connecting both sides. We had to go through the boat, sometimes sailing for hours, to get the basic things done. If there is any emergency situation, it is most likely to be fatal. So, Jha ji pushed for a new district. Now, we have our own DM, SP office etc., but a train appears to be very far from reality,””

““Suna hai ab train Chalegi Mere shehar se tumhare shehar tak Bichhegi rail line nayi Judenge do shehar Aaj hi padha hai akhbar me””

““If Raghunath Jha would have been here, the story could have been very different. People are electing the outsiders, not the candidate of Sheohar. They are saying Nitish brought economic development, aap aarthik ghulami se toh ubar sakte hain, maansik ghulami se kaise ubarenge? That is what Lalu gave us, freedom from mental slavery,””

““Every political party claims to bring a railway line here, but nobody has done anything significant so far. We have heard that there is a survey ongoing. We are hopeful this time since Sharma has links with Railways and he has worked with the department, he might do something,””

““I remember around 25 years back Nitish Kumar had come to Sheohar and he said that whenever Jha ji (Raghunath Jha) meets me, he only talks about this Railway line. So, he expedited the work of the line,””

““When the trains used to pass from Mokama, the Dalits and Chhotka Jaat (Backward caste) passengers had to stand up and put their chappal on their head to make way for the so-called upper caste people. Lalu Yadav changed it, he himself travelled in the trains,””

““Lalu ke time pe sabhi balisht mantri Rajput the. The backward voted for him, the forward reaped all the facilities,””

““The money and time I have to spend to travel to Muzaffarpur from Sheohar is much higher than it takes for Muzaffarpur to Jamalpur. I have to spend almost Rs. 200 hundred to go from Sheohar to Muzaffarpur to take a train, whereas It takes only Rs. 80 to reach from Muzaffarpur to Jamalpur, which is around 180-km far. Had it been a railway station in my district, I would not have to bother so much,””

““Agar yha station hota toh usse hum apna kehte. Muzaffarpur feels like other’s station. If government has made a district, they should give a Railway line as well. Why is this disparity with us to bother Mithilavaasi (Maithili People),””

““It is not always about going to cities like Delhi or Mumbai. It is about going to smaller cities. We need a train to go to our capital Patna, that would be the biggest relief for us,””

““Prasashan tight ho gaya hai, Vichar nahi badla hai, vichar toh ab bhi unke vahi hain”

““Before the election, he had promised to give a library, park and memorial in the village. The one you saw has been built from personal money when nobody listened to us. It was shifted from a house. He had also promised the dredging of a canal passing along the village and built a bridge over it. This has also remained unfulfilled,””

““We call this sand ghat on the Son river our station. We climb onto the sand trucks here and ride all the way to Patna.””

““The poor have only one option for the long journeys-Train. The rich have many options: private vehicles, flight etc. Every district has its dignity and in order to maintain that, the government should provide at least basic things. If other districts have a station, why can’t we have one? The population also has increased over the years, so there is no issue of ridership as well,””

““The Sitamarhi-Sheohar line is 29 percent complete and it is being expedited in the upcoming years. As far as Bihta-Aurangabad line is concerned, a fresh final location survey was sanctioned on 01.02.2023. Subsequently, the 13-km Aurangabad terminal-Anugrah Narayan Road project was sanctioned on 26.06.2024 and it is targeted to be completed in June 2027. For the balance section, the detailed project report is under preparation,””