I know, Gaya, Asn, pnbe were all comparable stations. My comment was only about PNBE’s appropriation as THE station for the north east. Some high ranked railway official very recently said that Brahmaputra mail on introduction ran via Gaya, which is quite interesting. Patna was not originally the de facto junction for Guwahati, how and when that happened is not entirely clear.
The “Gaya aur Uttar Poorva Jane k liye gaadi Yahan badaliye” happened before Patna’s meteoric rise. Patna became a behemoth only very recently.