Title - Duronto timings will soon be changed, Roy tells Bansal

In a significant development, Union Railway Minister Mukul Roy on Tuesday assured Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Water Resources Pawan Kumar Bansal that the timings of the Chandigarh-Amritsar Duronto Express would soon be changed to suit passenger needs.Also, Roy assured Bansal that the demand of city residents to convert the train into Chandigarh-Amritsar Inter-City Express with halts at Mohali, Ludhiana and Jalandhar would be looked into simultaneously.Bansal met the Railway Minister in New Delhi and took up with him the matter of inconvenient timing of this recently introduced Duronto Express. He impressed upon the Railway Minister that to make the service truly beneficial for the users, the train should leave from Chandigarh in the morning and depart from Amritsar for the return trip in the evening so that the residents of areas around Chandigarh return by evening.The Railway Minister said that he would personally look into the matter and would do the needful.Bansal also told Roy that there was no other train connecting Chandigarh to important cities of Punjab, viz. Ludhiana and Jalandhar, which fall on the Chandigarh-Amritsar Duronto route.He told the Railway Minister that there was a strong demand from the residents that the train should have scheduled halts at Mohali, Ludhiana and Jalandhar. There were also a large number of frequent travellers between Chandigarh and Ludhiana/Jalandhar who, in the absence of direct train connectivity, are compelled to rely on the over-burdened and hazardous road transport.Bansal suggested that if it was difficult to schedule a halt on a Duronto service, the train be converted into Chandigarh-Amritsar Inter-city Express with halts at Mohali, Ludhiana and Jalandhar.Giving a background of the whole issue, Bansal explained to the Railway Minister that the train departs from Chandigarh at 7 pm everyday and reaches Amritsar well past 11 pm. As a result, a large number of devotees, who would otherwise like to take the train to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple, are unable to do so as it requires an overnight stay at Amritsar. For the same reason, businessmen and traders who wish to return to Chandigarh on the same day are unable to benefit from the service.