In Uttar Pradesh, Gorakhpur–Pilibhit Express train service extended up to Izzatnagar
By Arun Kumar Das
New Delhi, Nov 27 (BVI): Fulfilling long-standing public demand of Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, the central government has extended the Gorakhpur–Pilibhit Express train services up to Izzatnagar (Bareilly).
A train to Izzatnagar was flagged off today through a video conference by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, along with Jitin Prasada, Union Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology and Commerce & Industry, who is an MP from the area.
The train earlier operated between Lakhimpur and Gorakhpur, and a few months ago its service was extended up to Pilibhit. It has now been further extended to Bareilly.
Speaking on the occasion, Vaishnaw said 5,272 kilometres of new rail tracks have been constructed in Uttar Pradesh since 2014 and that it is more than the entire rail network of Switzerland (a very small country located in Europe).
Uttar Pradesh has achieved 100 percent electrification of its railway routes, he said.
He further informed that 1,660 flyovers and road underbridges have been built across Uttar Pradesh during this period.
For enhanced passenger convenience, Indian Railways has installed 154 lifts and 156 escalators at various stations, and Wi-Fi facilities are now available at 771 stations across Uttar Pradesh, the Minister said.
The Railway Minister highlighted that 34 Vande Bharat Express services and 26 Amrit Bharat Express services are currently operational in UP.
Over the past 11 years, 48 long-pending projects have been completed, including the Lucknow–Pilibhit gauge conversion, Pilibhit–Shahjahanpur gauge conversion, and Bareilly–Tanakpur gauge conversion, all of which had been awaiting progress for many years, Vaishnaw said.
Additionally, 157 stations across Uttar Pradesh are being redeveloped under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme.
These include 48 stations in West and North Uttar Pradesh alone—such as Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Shamli, Bulandshahr, Garhmukteshwar, Ghaziabad, Meerut City, Modinagar, Ramghat, Bijnor, Dhampur, Moradabad, Najibabad, Pilibhit, and Bareilly, among others.
Among these 157 stations in Uttar Pradesh, 10 stations have already been inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while work on the remaining stations is progressing rapidly.
Prasada expressed gratitude to Vaishnaw for prioritising Pilibhit and said students, farmers, and tourists will be the biggest beneficiaries of the extension of these railway services. (BVI)
