Rail passengers demand halt of Sealdah-Jammu Express in city

Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, July 4

The recently introduced Sealdah-Jammu Tawi Humsafar Express, which will run on the Sealdah-Jammu Tawi route, connecting West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir, has not been provided a halt in Jalandhar. The train has a halt at Ludhiana and Ambala Cantt.

Residents of the city are not happy with the decision of the authorities concerned.

“Passengers travelling to Jammu and Kashmir are large in number in the region. They are dependent on buses and other mode of transport to travel as no direct train on the route is running from the city,” residents said.

“Even the Rajdhani Express and Duronto Express which are Sealdah-Jammu-bound trains are not having a stoppage at the city. The newly-launched train on the same route must have a halt at Jalandhar as it would help the Northern Railways generate three times more revenue as compared to Jammu and Kashmir,” said passengers.

However, Sealdah-Jammu Tawi Humsafar Express will halt at Ludhiana, Ambala Cantt, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Bareilly, Lucknow, Varanasi, Mughalsarai, Gaya, Dhanbad, and Asansol.

“The train will connect Jammu, which is close to pilgrimage centres and international borders to Sealdah. Meanwhile, in city too, there are a number of Kashmiris who travel to Jammu very often. Hence, local MPs and MLAs should have asked the railway authorities to provide a stoppage at Jalandhar,” said Manpreet Singh, a resident.

Meanwhile, Sukhvinder Singh, ADRM, Ferozpur Division, he said: “The train has just been started and the railway authorities are working to decide which stations are to be added in the list.”

He said, “If passengers are more in the region and demand is genuine, the MLA or MP concerned could submit a proposal to the Deputy Commissioner. The authorities concerned would definitely take action in the matter.”

He said Sealdah-Jammu Tawi Humsafar Express was a superfast train. Its fare was comparatively high. Therefore, passengers expect the train to have a less number of stops to reach their destinations quickly, that is why it is having only seven or eight halts.