M A I N   N E W S

Nine new trains from July 1
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 29
Northern Railway (NR) has announced nine new trains, including three Superfast trains, linking the Capital with Hatia, Bilaspur and Gorakhpur from July 1.

While releasing the new NR timetable here on Friday, Northern Railway General Manager S. Dhasarathy told newspersons that two Rajdhani Express trains were being introduced between New Delhi and Hatia and New Delhi and Bilaspur. Apart from this, a superfast express train would run between New Delhi and Gorakhpur twice a week. A train linking Amritsar with Asansol would also be introduced.

Enumerating the salient features of the timetable, Mr Dhasarathy said the frequency of the three trains was being increased. These include the New Delhi-Sealdah Rajdhani Express (to run four days a week instead of twice a week), Dehra Dun-Gorakhpur Express (to run thrice a week instead of bi-weekly) and five-day service of Nizamuddin-Bilaspur Gondwana Express instead of three days.

According to the schedule, 14 trains had been extended and some had been renumbered. These were the 4805/4806 Jammu-Tawi Jodhpur Express to Ahmedabad renumbered as 9111/9112, the 4887/4888 Jodhpur-Kalka Express to Hardwar as 4887-A, 4888-A, the 1 HC/2-HC Hisar-Churu Passenger to Ratangarh renumbered as 1-HR/2HR, the 1 JLK/2 JLK Jalandhar-Lokhiankhas Passenger to Ferozpur renumbered as 6 JF/7 JF, the 2 LJ/5 LJ Ludhiana Jakhal Passenger to Hisar renumbered as 4 LJH/5LJH and the 1/2/3/4 Narwana-Kurukshetra Passenger to Jind renumbered as 5/6/7/8 JNK.

Due to poor utilisation by passengers, six trains including the 4535/4536 Kalka-Amritsar Express and the 4711-A/4712-A Sriganganagar -Kalka Link Express had been cancelled.

The timetable had also altered the weekly schedule of 22 trains. For instance, the 2317 Akal Takht Express from Sealdah would now run on the third day of week instead of Monday. Similarly, the 2318 Akal Takht Express from Amristar would run on Friday instead of Wednesday. As per the revised schedule, the Sachkhand Express from Amritsar would run on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

The Northern Railway had also rescheduled 15 trains including 3005 Howrah-Amritsar Express and the 4731 New Delhi-Bathinda Intercity Express.

The timetable also holds good news for passengers of Mail and Express trains including the 3005 Howrah-Amritsar Express, the 9111 Jammu Tawi- Ahmedabad Express, the 9772 Jaipur-Amritsar Express and the 4887 Jodhpur-Kalka Express. As per the schedule, 36 passenger trains had been accelerated. The schedule also provided halts for 1BD Dhuri-Bathinda Passenger at Ghumas and the 2/3 SHB Sriganganagar-Bathinda Passenger at Kotha Pakki Bahma Diwana station.

The schedule had also changed the timings of mail, express and passenger trains from the Delhi junction, New Delhi, Hazrat Nizamuddin, DelhiSarai Rohilla, Kanpur Central (broad gauge), Kanpur (metre gauge), Allahabad Junction, Varanasi, Lucknow, Moradabad, Laksar Junction, Dehra Dun, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Ludhiana, Bathinda, Amritsar and Ambala.