LUDHIANA: In a good news for city residents, especially businessmen, more than 10 trains that remained cancelled for a long time will start operations from this week. The list includes some of the most popular trains on New Delhi-Ludhiana-Amritsar route: 02013 Shatabdi Express will start from Thursday and 02029 Shatabdi Express from Friday.
Besides these, on New Delhi-Ludhiana-Jammu route, 02461 Shri Shakti Express and 02265 Duronto Express will resume operations as well. Several special unreserved trains will also start from Thursday. Majority of the trains were cancelled from May 1 owing to low occupancy and surge in Covid-19 cases.
Rajesh Aggarwal, divisional railway manager (DRM), Ferozepur Division, said, “On demand of passengers and local administration of areas under our jurisdiction, we will start the operations of 10 pairs of special unreserved trains from July 1. Decision has been taken to resume several mail express trains as well, mainly on routes of New Delhi to Amritsar, New Delhi to Jammu and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, Chandigarh to Amritsar, Amritsar to Sarhasa, Jammu Tawi to Kathgodam.”
Welcoming the development, Pradeep Wadhawan, former senior vice-president of United Cycle and Parts’ Manufacturers’ Association, said, “We are thankful to the railways for its decision to resume important trains, especially Shatabdi Express that suits the business community for going to Delhi for a one-day trip and it’s economical too. The decision to resume long-distance trains, like Jammu Tawi-Kanpur Central Express, Amritsar-Kouchuveli Superfast and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi-Gazipur will help us in going on business tours to far-off states.”
Abhinav Sehgal, joint secretary of Ludhiana Business Forums, said, “With so many trains coming back on track, not only movement of people, but of goods will also be facilitated as going to the far-flung areas by road takes many days and freight charges are also high.”
