ROURKELA: The demand for stoppages of two Duronto Express trains at Rourkela on the Howrah-Mumbai mainline of South Eastern Railway (SER) continues to remain unfulfilled drawing criticism from various fora. The express train however will have an additional stoppage at Raipur in Chhattisgarh.
Sources said, Raipur is the latest addition to commercial stoppages of 12221/12222 Howrah-Pune Duranto Express and 12261/12262 Howrah-Mumbai Duranto Express. In 2019, the then Railway Minister Piyush Goyal replying to Sundargarh Lok Sabha MP and Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence Jual Oram on December 11 denied the proposal for stoppage of 12221/12222 Howrah-Pune Duranto Express at Rourkela. Goyal went on to state, “Duronto Express trains are long-distance fast moving prestigious trains with very limited stoppages enroute. Proliferation of stoppages is not operationally expedient. However, Rourkela is well-connected to both Kolkata and Pune.”
