| CHANDIGARH-AMRITSAR SUPERFAST EXPRESS Passengers jubilant over reduction of 30-min journey by RailXpert on 21 April, 2013 - 09:00 PM | ||
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RailXpert | CHANDIGARH-AMRITSAR SUPERFAST EXPRESS Passengers jubilant over reduction of 30-min journey on 21 April, 2013 - 09:00 PM | |
Amritsar: The Chandigarh-Amritsar Superfast Express chugged in the Amritsar station after its inaugural run over the newly opened Mornida-Sahnewal-Ludhiana section of the Chandigarh-Ludhiana track last night. The journey has been shortened by half-an-hour after the inauguration of this section.Passengers were jubilant at the reduction of the 30-minute distance as they can now easily head to their houses and have dinner with families after a day-long work.Rohan, a passenger, said earlier it was never possible to complete the day’s work out at Chandigarh and return the same day as freshly as now.Passengers from remote areas of the town and even rural areas could catch connecting means of transportation easily. Earlier, the train used to return from Chandigarh after 11 in the night and it was a little risky to travel to houses at that time. Locating rickshaws and autos for passengers was not easy at that time.Amit Mehra, another passenger, said earlier he used to travel to Chandigarh by train in the morning and return Amritsar by bus in the evening. “Over 20 minutes agonising wait for power change at Sirhind railway station, which is not even on the route to Chandigarh, made a major difference”.He felt that the fast-paced transportation on the route would herald innumerable business opportunities in the time to come.He felt that the government should plan to operationalise bullet train on this route, which would accelerate the economic growth of the region.Local Railway officials anticipated the occupancy rate of the superfast train to jack up, which is at present over 60 per cent. Earlier, this train was launched as Duronto on August 24, 2011.However, the authorities later gave into passengers demand and renamed the train as Amritsar-Chandigarh Superfast Express with halts at Ludhiana and Jalandhar. | ||