Train between Amritsar, Katra discontinued

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 1

Within 10 days of its launch, the new train between Amritsar and Katra launched for pilgrims headed towards the Vaishno Devi shrine has been withdrawn due to low-occupancy.

Divisional Railway Manager, Ferozepur Division, Anuj Prakash, said the train has been withdrawn from today on account of low-occupancy and mounting losses to the Railways.

He said the train would now be operated between Katra and Delhi via Jalandhar. The Ferozepur division administers railway stations in parts of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

A rumour was already rife in the railway circles that the threat of discontinuation loomed large over the newly launched train as there were reports that the Ferozepur Division recommended that the train should be discontinued in view of the low-passenger load and the resulting monetary losses to the Railways.

The inaugural run of the train from Katra, the base camp for the cave-shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi, to Amritsar was on September 20. It was mired with inordinate delay as the rail lines at many places in the state were blocked at several places by the followers of the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda. Against its scheduled arrival time of 2:30 pm, it reach only after 8 pm.

However, passengers complained of long unscheduled halts in its journey, causing inconvenience and delay in their itinerary. Besides, they also held responsible the low publicity carried out among the passengers for low-occupancy of the train. They said most of the trains become popular by word of mouth. But in this case very little time was availble for this kind of publicity.