RailEnquiry

LUDHIANA: A day after Union railway minister Mallikarjun Kharge increased the frequency of the Ludhiana Shatabdi, he raised the hopes of city residents who now expect him to get the Ludhiana Jan Shatabdi started from the industrial city.As of now, there is no Shatabdi exclusively from the city to Delhi in the morning and residents hope the railway minister will make the announcement soon, bringing about a marked improvement in rail connectivity in the morning hours.Upkar Singh, joint secretary, Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Understandings, said, "We are happy the railway minister has increased the frequency of the Ludhiana Shatabdi train, which will help the business community. Aerial connectivity is not adequate with the lone flight from the city not very reliable and we depend on rail. If we go to Delhi in the morning, we don't have a Shatabdi, except for the Amritsar Shatabdi which is mostly booked from the source station. As the railway minister Mallikarjun Kharge has been generous enough to increase the frequency of the Ludhiana Shatabdi, he must get a Jan Shatabdi train started from the city. This will help residents in general and the business community in particulara."

Apart from the business community, residents, as a whole have been raising the demand for the Shatabdi train in the morning from the city to Delhi. Dr Rajnish Garg, an orthopaedician from Tagore Nagar, said, "As of now, if we have to go to Delhi, we have two options, either we have to go to Chandigarh from where we can take a flight or we can board a Shatabdi. If we go to Delhi via Chandigarh by air it takes around four to five hours from here. If we wish to go by the Amritsar Shatabdi train, there is hardly any ticket available as it is mostly booked from Amritsar. In such a scenario, we don't have any option in the morning. So if the government announces the Shatabdi train, we can go to Delhi in the morning and return in the other Shatabdi in the evening."