Bateshwar (Uttar Pradesh): About 16 years after former prime minister AB Vajapayee laid foundation, Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha on Thursday flagged off a train connecting  Vajpayee’s ancestral village Bateshwar in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra district to Etawah district on the eve of his birthday.

According to state BJP leaders, the train will open new avenues for development in the backward region bordering Chambal.

The minister said there had been a quantum jump in goods and passenger traffic on the Indian Railways.

Sinha also said around 400 railway stations across the nation will be made WiFi-enabled.