Railway halts outnumber stations under ECR in Bihar

Patna, Sep 30 (UNI) The East Central Railways (ECR) has come up with halts exceeding the number of actual stations under the railways, following persistent demands from the common people and local leaders.

The Danapur division has 112 legally approved halts, while the number of railway stations stood at 84.

Railway sources said three more halts were in the offing.

The sources admitted that the division had several unapproved halts where the smooth movement of trains was hampered by miscreants.

Concerned over such practices, the Railways gave nod for setting up of genuine halts in a bid to fulfill the requirements of the local people, the sources said adding it also contributed to the revenues.

The ECR had earned a record revenue of Rs 2.47 crore from the halts in the year 2007-08 and tickets worth Rs 31 lakh were sold during the same period.

The Railways was considering the population and revenue prior to sanctioning any halt where the stoppage time of a local train had been fixed for one minute, according to sources.

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