RailEnquiry

Amritsar: Even as the Union Railway Ministry had announced the commencement of Amritsar-Lalkuan Express in February this year, its launch has got delayed due to want of notification.It has been learnt that the racks have arrived here for the train which would operate once in a week.The train would facilitate a large section of Sikh population residing in Lalkuan area of Uttarakhand, which is also called mini-Punjab in the hill state. Operationalisation of the train is being keenly awaited by the families whose relatives are settled in this part of Uttarakhand where Bajpur and Udham Singh Nagar having sizeable Sikh population are situated.Nishan Singh, a local resident, whose relatives reside at Bajpur, said a stoppage at Baijpur must be announced to felicitate smooth travel for the Punjabi families living there. He maintained that odd departure schedule of 12 pm from Lal Kuan was highly inconvenient for the passengers, especially coming from far off places.He said a three-hour-long stay at Muradabad would unnecessarily prolong the journey. He said for the convenience of the public, the train’s name must reflect a prominent place like Amritsar-Uttarakhand instead of Lal Kuan which is not widely known.Naresh Chander Goel, Divisional Railway Manager, Ferozepur Range, said they were awaiting the arrival of notification to start the train. He said the decision for naming the train was done at the headquarters level. The decision on fixing the schedule for the train’s departure was taken after evaluating various factors in account, he added. He said no final decision had been taken on the VVIP who would flag off the train.