There is a railway station in India at which no railway ticket has been sold for last 33 years. It is not that the trains don't run here or people travel without tickets. There are many trains that crosses this railway station, but still no one has bothered to purchase a ticket.
The story goes like this. In 1982, in Bokaro district of Jharkhand state in India, a railway station by the name 'Chas' was established in a village named 'kala Patthar'. In english language, the name would translate to 'black stone'. Now one expect that at least one passenger train would be scheduled to stop at such an old station. But strangely as per railway timetable no train has ever been assigned a stoppage at this station. Actually no passenger train runs on the route at which this station lies.
The railway station itself is interesting. There are 5 stations masters and total of 14 members in operating staff. Due to no revenue generation at this station, there is not even a single railway official from commercial staff.
Railway spends minimum of 4 lakh rupees on staff at this station. This includes salary and other expenditure to maintain the station. But common men is not getting any benefit. This is clearly waste of money.
When this route was being planned railway authorities occupied land from villagers and promised them that they will run passenger trains along with goods train on this track. But it never happened. Railway staff here says that the track is not fit to run high speed passenger trains.
There are up to 30 goods train that run each day on this route of train between stations Bokaro-Mahuda. The length of route is 43 km and stations are Bokaro, Ispat nagar, Chas, Bandhdih, Talgaria, and Mahuda. Most trains carry goods of BSL and electro steel company.
Now villagers are again demanding new passengers trains to run on the route. A local MLA (minister of legislative assembly) has written a letter to the present railway minister - Suresh Prabhu in this connection.
The story goes like this. In 1982, in Bokaro district of Jharkhand state in India, a railway station by the name 'Chas' was established in a village named 'kala Patthar'. In english language, the name would translate to 'black stone'. Now one expect that at least one passenger train would be scheduled to stop at such an old station. But strangely as per railway timetable no train has ever been assigned a stoppage at this station. Actually no passenger train runs on the route at which this station lies.
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| Chas: abandoned railway station in India |
The railway station itself is interesting. There are 5 stations masters and total of 14 members in operating staff. Due to no revenue generation at this station, there is not even a single railway official from commercial staff.
Railway spends minimum of 4 lakh rupees on staff at this station. This includes salary and other expenditure to maintain the station. But common men is not getting any benefit. This is clearly waste of money.
When this route was being planned railway authorities occupied land from villagers and promised them that they will run passenger trains along with goods train on this track. But it never happened. Railway staff here says that the track is not fit to run high speed passenger trains.
There are up to 30 goods train that run each day on this route of train between stations Bokaro-Mahuda. The length of route is 43 km and stations are Bokaro, Ispat nagar, Chas, Bandhdih, Talgaria, and Mahuda. Most trains carry goods of BSL and electro steel company.
Now villagers are again demanding new passengers trains to run on the route. A local MLA (minister of legislative assembly) has written a letter to the present railway minister - Suresh Prabhu in this connection.