Ferozepur-Chandigarh train gets green signal

Our Correspondent

Ferozepur, February 6

After months of protests due to delay in its launch, the Minister of Railways has finally given a green signal to the much-awaited Ferozepur-Chandigarh Express. It will chug off from February 9. Confirming the move, Naresh Chander Goyal, Divisional Railways Manager (DRM), Ferozepur Division, said the train will be flagged off by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu through “remote system” from Delhi. “It shall commence its maiden journey from Ferozepur on Monday evening after a formal inaugural ceremony,” he added. The DRM said the train would start from Ferozepur at 7 am and reach Chandigarh at 11.25 am everyday. The return journey of the train from Chandigarh would start at 4.30 pm to reach Ferozepur around 9.30 pm. On the way, the train shall halt at the Talwandi Bhai, Moga, Jagraon, Ludhiana, Samrala and Mohali stations.

Sources in the Railways said there would be 12 bogies in the train and no AC car had been provided at the moment.

The train was launched in March last year as a holiday special train. It was later discontinued despite a good response from commuters as they had to shell out less money as compared to the fare of private buses.

Since then, residents of this border town have been demanding early resumption of the train service, which was also announced in Rail Budget-2014.

Several political and non-political outfits, including the Youth Congress, AAP, PPP, BKU (Ugraha), had also launched a month-long protest in October- November last year demanding resumption of the train. Leaders of these organisations had alleged that the ruling Badal government was trying to scuttle the project as it could dent the family’s own private transport business.

Expressing happiness over the move, Congress MLA Parminder Singh Pinki said the justice was delayed but not denied. He said the train would give a sigh of relief to hundreds of passengers who had to shuttle between the state capital and the border town on a regular basis. He said the train would also boost the economic prospects of the border region.