Daily Duronto from tomorrow

Chandigarh, November 2
The much-hyped Duronto Express running between Amritsar and Chandigarh five days a week will now ply on all seven days from November 4.

The chief public relations officer (CPRO) of the Indian Railways, New Delhi, SK Sharma, said a decision to this effect had been taken by the authorities after the train received good response from public during the past two months.

However, contrary to the claims of the authorities, the train was losing steam as only around 10,600 passengers have travelled from the city to Amritsar during the past 70 days.

And a similar number of passengers has travelled from Amritsar to Chandigarh in the train, which was launched amid much fanfare on August 24, during the same period.

Only 46 passengers travelled from the city on the train on October 26, contrary to the claims of the officials of the Ambala division that there was a gradual increase in the number of passengers during the past few weeks.

Senior divisional commercial manager, Ferozepur, in a communiqué to the Railway Division, Ambala, had banned unreserved current bookings from September 12, resulting in a further decline in the number of passengers travelling from the city.

As a result, the railway has been suffering a loss of lakhs of rupees every day, as around Rs 4 lakh is being spent by the railways daily to run this express train, the sources say.

Sharma said the railways was closely monitoring the occupancy on the train and further steps would be taken to create awareness among public about the train.

People in the region have been demanding the renaming of the train to Shatabdi Express so that more stoppages can be included into its schedule.