Title - Residents cheer launch of new train

Amritsar : Many city residents, especially those belonging to the Sikh community who have their relatives in the Lal Kuan area of Uttarakhand, have a reason to cheer. For, the weekly Amritsar-Lal Kuan Express proposed in the budget, would take them to and fro Lal Kuan which is home to a large number of Sikhs.Lal Kuan, 25 km from the lake district of Nainital, is a nagar panchayat. Among the first batch of passengers, who boarded the inaugural run of the train, were a five-member group from Slovakia.Lubisa, one of the group members, said it would be a good opportunity for those travelers from the city who were keen to explore the picturesque hills of Uttarakhand. She said her group had contacted a travel agent after arriving at Delhi. “That travel agent guided them to utilise the services of new AC train to travel to Nainital from the holy city.”She said their stay at a hotel in Nainital was already confirmed and the hotel management conveyed them a taxi would come to pick them at the Lal Kuan railway station, which is said to be one of the biggest in Uttarakhand.A couple Rashpal Singh and Sarbjit Kaur said their relatives reside close to Lal Kuan. Earlier, they used to travel by the Amritsar-Dehradun express train to reach Uttarakhand and from there they used to catch a connecting train or bus to commute the remaining journey.Amritsar Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHRA) president APS Chatha said apart from meeting the long pending demand of the Sikh community residing in that geographical stretch of Uttarakhand, the train links the holy city with tourists’ circuit of Nainital. He said the city already had air connectivity with tourist circuit of western India by a daily flight to Mumbai and with Jammu and Kashmir by having a flight to Srinagar. Besides, the holy city has road and train links to hilly states of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

Chatha said so far tourists from Amritsar preferred to travel to Mussorie and religious tourist destinations like Hemkunt Sahib, Badrinath and Kedarnath in Uttarakhand. He anticipated this tourist realm to expand now.