Bhubaneswar: The Indian Railways has approved the regularisation of the Bhanjapur–Puri–Bhanjapur special trains into regular express services to provide better travel convenience to the passengers.

Accordingly, Train No. 08011/08012 Bhanjapur–Puri–Bhanjapur Special will now operate as Train No. 18017/18018 Bhanjapur–Puri–Bhanjapur Express. The regular services will commence from Bhanjapur in Baripada on May 21 and from Puri on May 22.

Train No. 18017 Bhanjapur–Puri Express will depart from Bhanjapur at 11:10 pm and arrive at Puri at 5:50 am the following day. In the return direction, Train No. 18018 Puri–Bhanjapur Express will leave Puri at 11:50 pm and reach Bhanjapur at 6:50 am the next morning.

“Since their introduction as special services, these trains have received encouraging patronage from passengers. Considering the consistent demand and the importance of strengthening regional rail connectivity, the services have now been converted into regular Express trains to ensure greater convenience, reliability, and continuity of operations,” said the Indian Railways.

The trains provide vital connectivity to important stations including Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Baripada, Balasore, Soro, Bhadrak, Jajpur Keonjhar Road, and Khurda Road, it added.