RailEnquiry

Come September 11, and Amritsar-Chandigarh Duronto Express will chug its way as Amritsar-Chandigarh Superfast train.Bowing down to the passengers’ demand and failure of Duronto, the Union Railway Ministry has decided to change the Amritsar-Chandigarh Duronto into a Superfast train, putting it on the right track.Now, the train will halt at the Ludhiana and Jalandhar making it financially viable. Being a non-stop train with no halts, Duronto failed to find favour with the passengers which were launched the previous year by the Ministry.The Amritsar-Chandigarh Duronto Express miserably failed to attract many commuters as in the first five days of its launch, it could get just 17 per cent occupancy with a total of 13,960 seats, on which only 2,377 passengers traveled. The situation remains the same even after that.Though the proposal was approved in July, the date of its launch was not finalised. The Punjab Government has all along been insisting on introducing halts in the Duronto’s journey. However, considering the lengthy process of amending the Act under which the Duronto trains were introduced across the country, the Ministry initially expressed its inability to oblige the state government.For a Duronto to halt at stations on its route, the Ministry would have to amend the Act under which these trains were introduced across the country.Instead of going through the lengthy process of introducing an amendment in the Parliament, the Ministry has decided to change the train’s name from Amritsar-Chandigarh Duronto to Amritsar-Chandigarh Superfast.The Superfast is expected to get a substantial number of passengers from Ludhiana and Jalandhar. Around 1,000 seats had been going empty (both ways) daily on the Duronto and the estimated per day loss to the railways was around Rs 1.5 lakh.The fare for the Superfast, both AC and non-AC classes, will be less than for the Duronto. In the case of AC chair car, the fare will be slashed as no breakfast or dinner will be served. The fare list is expected to be made available to the local station authorities in a day or two.