Delhi-Chandigarh Shatabdi to halt at Karnal from July 30

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, July 28

The long pending demand of city residents of a halt of the New Delhi-Chandigarh Shatabdi Express will be fulfilled on July 30 when Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu dedicates this facility to the people.

Karnal railway station was built in 1892 by the British and is one of the oldest in the region. Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu would dedicate this facility to the residents. It will be the first Shatabdi to stop besides the first ever visit of a Union Railway Minister here.

Prabhu would also lay the foundation stone of the renovation work of the railway station and would

inaugu rate the ‘barat ghar’for railway employees. The wish list of the people includes a stop of the New Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi Express and declaring Karnal a junction.

Whereas, there is a possibility of some changes in the programme following the death of former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, but Deputy Commissioner J Ganesan denied any change.

Rajiv Kumar, a social activist, said that being one of the oldest railway stations it should be given the status of junction, the announcements for which had been made in 1998, 2010 and 2011 budgets by the then Railway Ministers, but there was no headway so far.

Ramesh Midha, a trader, said the announcements for laying the railway tracks linking Karnal to Yamunanagar and Karnal to Kaithal had been done earlier but there is no progress so far.

Jaspal Goldy, a businessman, said that the route of the trains plying between Delhi and Panipat to Karnal or Kurukshetra should be extended for the convenience of the residents.

There is no train to Delhi from Karnal during 3.15 am to 6.15 am leading to inconvenience for daily passengers to Delhi. There should also be stoppages of the Swaraj Sarvodaya Jammu Tawi Express, Chandigarh-Indore Express, Sai Nagar Shirdi-Kalka Express and others.