Patna: A daily passenger train has been making unscheduled stops at a distant location in Bihar just to allow its driver have a good strong cuppa, served by local villagers.
Reports said the local intercity express which runs between Patna and Sasaram, a western Bihar town, makes regular stops outside Nonar village in Bhojpur district although it has no stoppage there.
Witnesses say this helps both sides: while the driver refreshes himself with a strong tea, prepared with pure milk available in the countryside, the sipping time allows the local villagers to board the train and reach destinations of their choice without visiting the next stations.
The idea is said to be the brainchild of the residents of Nonar village. As per reports, the local villagers had to travel quite a distance to catch the train. They thought of a plan to get the train driver to stop: they opened a tea stall outside the village, close to the railway track, and started offering him a cuppa.
“In due course, the driver became so addicted to this specially-steamed tea prepared with pure milk that he made it a habit to stop train and have a cup of tea on both up and down journeys,” said Raju Kumar, a passenger who shuttles between Patna and Ara (Bhojpur district) everyday. He is posted in a local government hospital. According to him, the train resumes its journey only after the driver finishes his tea.
Last year in April, a train driver asked passengers aboard the Delhi-bound Kolkata-Anand Vihar Express to get out and push the vehicle to resume further journey after it got stuck in the “neutral zone”, a short length of track where there is no power in the overhead wires. The incident had taken place between Banahi and Raghunathpur stations in Buxur district which borders Bhojpur district.
India’s rail network carries more than 23 million passengers daily. Indian Railways is one of world’s largest railway networks comprising 115,000 km of track over a route of 65,808 km and 7,112 stations. In 2014-15, it carried over eight billions passengers annually or more than 23 million passengers a day.
