Bansal seeks rail link between city, Rajpura

andigarh, January 20

Former MP Pawan Kumar Bansal has demanded a rail link between Chandigarh and Rajpura.

In a letter to Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways and Commerce, he said Chandigarh had a unique position as the capital of Punjab and Haryana, besides being the gateway to Himachal Pradesh. It is an educational hub, a confluence of cultures of several parts of the country and had head offices of important industrial and financial institutions. People from across the country come here to seek treatment at the PGI.

Bansal said though over the years, the city was widely connected to different parts of the country by rail, two important nearby places - Rajpura in Punjab and the industrial town of Baddi in Himachal Pradesh - did not have a rail link with the city.

“Distance between the Mohali railway station and the Rajpura railway station is about 30 km. If this line is constructed, it will connect Chandigarh directly to Rajpura, Patiala, Dhuri Junction, Bathinda Junction and beyond, including Sri Ganganagar (Rajasthan),” Bansal said.

“At present, people of this area have to first travel to Ambala and then to Chandigarh to reach the city,” he said. — TNS