New Delhi, Feb 22 (IANS) Railway Minister Lalu Prasad reached the Old Delhi Railway Station a little before midnight and left after saying that he was "completely satisfied" with all the security arrangements.

The 4001 Delhi Attari Express was scheduled to depart at 10.50 p.m Wednesday but left finally 34 minutes past midnight Thursday. The train, which was supposed to leave with eight reserved compartments, had two new coaches added to it at the last moment to accommodate the rush of passengers.

More than 650 passengers left on the train, the first after the ill-fated Sunday train was bombed by terrorists near Panipat leaving 68 dead and over 50 injured.

"There was a lot a passengers. We did not want to return them," said a railway official at around 11 p.m Wednesday.

Lalu Prasad reached the station nearly 25 minutes after the special train's original departure time.

Passengers were let in till 12.15 a.m. even after it was announced twice that the train is "getting ready to leave soon".

After reviewing the security arrangements for the passengers, Lalu Prasad said: "I am completely satisfied with the arrangements. From now on we have deployed two Railway Protection Forces personnel and two train ticket inspectors on every coach."

"This train is a little dirty now, we will change all the coaches by Sunday," he assured before leaving the station.