Chandigarh: It will take a few more years before the Indian Railways develops the Chandigarh railway station as a junction for long-distance trains. Reason, the vital rail link between Chandigarh and Ludhiana is behind schedule. Till the rail link is complete, residents will not be able to use long distance trains now running on the Amritsar-Delhi section.
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Today’s announcement reaffirms that Chandigarh and its peripheral areas are not on the priority list of the railway minister. However, there was an applause when Lalu Prasad announced a direct tri-weekly Garib Rath between Chandigarh and Jaipur via Rewari and Bhiwani.
JS Bhogal, member of the Zonal Railway User Consultative Committee, said the train should have been extended up to Ajmer Sharif. He was unhappy that there was no announcement for direct trains between the city and major like Mumbai, Banglore and Goa.
The announcement on a special train between Anandpur Sahib and Patna Sahib to Nanded to commemorate the tercentenary celebrations of Shri Guru Granth Sahib Gurta Gaddi would be of little use if the train was not diverted through the city, he said.
R.L. Goel, another member on the committee, said the priority should be to create more infrastructure at the Chandigarh station so that the pending Chandigarh-Ludhiana track was used as alternative route between Ambala and Amritsar.
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