Keeping in view the convenience of travellers and Hockey lovers, the East Coast Railway has taken a decision of running special trains between the steel city, Rourkela, and the Odisha state capital a day before the first Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023 between India and Spain to be held at Birsa Munday Hockey Stadium on Friday.
According to an official release, reported by PTI, the East Coast Railway took this decision in order to fend off additional rush of passengers during the Hockey Men’s World Cup, which is scheduled to be held from January 13 to January 29. The sporting events will be held at Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar, and Birsa Munday Hocley Stadium in Rourkela.
For the convenience of the passengers, the train will be featured with one AC-2 tier, three AC-3 tier, eight sleeper class, four second class seating and two guard cum luggage vans, which will have stoppages at Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Talcher Road, Angul, Rairakhol, Sambalpur City, Jharsuguda and Rajagangpur between Bhubaneswar-Rourkela from both the directions.
Bhubaneswar-Rourkela Special will leave from Bhubaneswar at 8.25 pm every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday from January 14 to 30, said the East Coast Railway. In its return direction, the train will leave from Rourkela at 11.25 PM on every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday from January 15 to 31.
The spectacular opening ceremony of the Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023 started on Wednesday evening at the swanky Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. Scores of Hockey lovers across the country witnessed the grand ceremony. Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, International Hockey Federation president Tayyab Ikram and Hockey India chairman Dilip Tirkey attended the ceremony to welcome members of all the 16 participating teams.