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| Yatra at peak, railways refuse to provide facility | | Train to Katra yet to take off | | Shiv Dev Thakur
Early Times Report
KATRA, Jan 4: Although the yatra is at its peak owing to the winter vacations and new year festival, the pilgrims across India used to visit Shri Mata Vaishnodevi in bunches, the railway authorities discontinued many of direct trains to Katra, the base camp of Holy Shrine, creating inconvenience to the pilgrims.
Till June when the Katra Railway Station was not Complete, travellers had to take a train to Delhi, then board a connecting service to Jammu from where the only way to Katra was a tiresome drive by bus. The bus fares were steep and the entire journey would take beyond two days.
But soon after the completion of the railway station, the pilgrims travelling from all over the country are facing the same problem as the railway authorities discontinued some long distance trains from the other cities like Delhi, Ahmedabad, Kanpur etc.
Reliable sources said that the Kalka-Katra train that was announced in the Railways Budget was likely to ply from September 23, but has not been pressed into service till date. An inspection was already done by the officials at the Kalka station and a series of test runs already conducted and the confirmation for the plying of the train issued by the higher authorities was awaited.
The tentative schedule of the Kalka-Katra train was part of the train timetable released by the Railways last year as it will depart from Kalka on Tuesdays and Fridays and arrive at Katra the next day in morning . It will leave from Katra on Wednesdays and Saturdays at night and reach Kalka at evening and will be beneficial for those visiting the Vaishno Devi shrine. While several other trains have already been started, commencement of this train is still awaited.
Sources further claimed that the railways had also operated a special premium train service from Mumbai and Ahmedabad direct to the pilgrim town as a big motivation for devotees planning a trip to the Vaishno Devi shrine, but it got discontinued. The sources said that the train operated on weekly basis from Mumbai and biweekly from Ahmedabad, making the gruelling journey much more comfortable and significantly cut the duration, even if it costs a little more. They again said that the trains offered both air-condition and sleeper class options and even if it is somewhat costly but the travellers used to board a train as it is the faster means of transport as duration of the journey direct from Mumbai to Katra was at 33 hours and from Ahmedabad at 28 hours. The travel was comfortable as compared to road drive, but the comfort did not last long as the trains got discontinued in December only after two and a half month of its become operational.Karthik Jay Kumar, a Pilgrim from Gurgaon while sharing his views with Early Times said the inconvenience continued with the discontinuation of the long distance trains. He added that only one train is running on Schedule namely Shri Shakti Express which is not affordable for all the Yatries as it costs much money to travel. Railway Official when contacted by Early Times said that there is no information available with regard to the operations of Kalka- Katra Express as the operational date for Kalka -Katra Express is still not confirmed. He also added, "the long distance trains have been discontinued owing to the falling trend of Yatris travelling to Shri Mata Vaishnodevi". Moreover, he added that the long distance trains which were running in Katra were special trains only and their operation or discontinuation is controlled by authorities only. He further added that only a Long distance Train namely 'Shri Shakti Express' along with three DMU's are allotted to Katra Station and are successfully running. |
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