CHANDIGARH – The long-awaited Duronto train from Amritsar finally glided in to Chandigarh railway station on Wednesday morning and over one hundred ecstatic passengers from Amritsar disembarked, beaming from ear to ear.
There were few complaints, though the train arrived half an hour late and left the holy city very early at 5.25 am. The four and a half-hour long journey, against the earlier estimate of three hours, took almost as long as buses. The fare too was higher but the journey was far more comfortable and the passengers, secure in the knowledge that they could make the return journey at 7 pm the same evening, were in no mood to complain.
The inaugural run of the Duronto was marred by the failure of the Railways to start the sale of tickets earlier. The tickets were made available only on Tuesday evening at Amritsar, which possibly explains the poor sales. Some passengers darkly speculated about conspiracy theories, suggesting that the bus-mafia in Punjab would not allow the train to last long.
