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Amritsar:
Train passengers can now look forward to a shorter journey between Amritsar and Chandigarh, as the Northern Railway (NR) has successfully finished the Chandigarh-Morinda-Ludhiana railway line which will shorten the distance between Ludhiana and Chadigarh from 126 km to 110 km.It will have the dual benefit for the Amritsar Chandigarh Superfast Express train. Firstly, the distance would decrease from the present 267 km to 251 km. Secondly, it will no longer require to be stationed at the Sirhind railway station for over 20 minutes for changing power engine to diesel-run engine. At present, Chandigarh-Amritsar Superfast Express covers a distance of 267 km in 4 hours 15 minutes. Once the new rail route becomes operational, it is expected to bring down the travel time to 3 hours 40 minutes.At present, the Superfast Express train passes through Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Sirhind and Morinda stations to reach Chandigarh. Once the new railway line is functional, the train would no longer need to travel to Sirhind, where power change takes place. This would attract more passengers who currently find the road travel less time consuming.The Chandigarh-Morinda-Ludhiana railway line stretch is part of the Chandigarh, Morinda and Ludhiana railway line project.Northern Railway Ferozepur division Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Naresh Chander Goel, talking to Amritsar Tribune, said so far, no notification for running the train on the new railway line had been received. He accepted that the new rail route would certainly bring down the travel time between Amritsar and Chandigarh.Officials at the local railway station said the occupancy rate of the Superfast train was over 60 per cent which was considerably higher than the erstwhile Duronto train, which had become a loss-making train. The 1,400-seat capacity train of Duronto was incurring a loss of about Rs 4 lakh daily, as on an average, 20 per cent seats remained occupied. Duronto had become the first train to connect the holy city with the state capital on August 24 in 2011. However, the authorities later gave in to passengers demand and renamed the train as Amritsar-Chandigarh Superfast Express with halts at Ludhiana and Jalandhar.A city resident, Dr AL Adlakha, said it was a welcome step, which had been long awaited. He said the Chandigarh-Morinda-Ludhiana railway line project was proposed way back in March 1997, with an investment of Rs1.5 billion. He, however, said that the delay in commissioning of the project led to the cost escalation of almost Rs 9.6 billion.The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the project in September 1998 and the construction of the tracks began in 2000. The project was to be implemented in three phases and the entire stretch of 110 km was expected to be commissioned by June 2010.Another city resident Amarjit Singh Asal said he urged the railways authorities many a time to swiftly accomplish the operationalisation of the Ludhiana-Morinda track to cut down the travel time between Amritsar and Chandigarh.