Raj Sadosh/Abohar.
Passengers traveling to Hardwar, Rishikesh, or commuting daily from stations such as Sriganganagar, Abohar, Malout, Gidderbaha, Bathinda, Rampura Phul, Tapa, Barnala, Dhuri, Nabha, Patiala, Ambala Cantt, and surrounding areas frequently face difficulties due to the reduced number of general coaches on the Train No. 14815/16 Sriganganagar-Rishikesh Express.
As this is the only train to Hardwar from Sriganganagar, people from the entire area travel to Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, causing all four general coaches to fill up right at the starting point. Any remaining space in the coaches gets occupied at Abohar, leaving passengers at subsequent stations to face significant hardships. By the time the train reaches Dhuri and Barnala, the situation becomes so severe that passengers can neither disembark nor board the train.
This issue was not as acute previously because the Sriganganagar-Rishikesh Express (14815/16) used to share its rake with the Delhi-Sriganganagar Intercity (12481/82), resulting in a total of six general coaches. To resolve operational issues, the rake-sharing arrangement was altered; the train was linked with the Barmer-Rishikesh-Barmer Express (14888/87) instead. While this eliminated the problem of train delays, it exacerbated the passengers’ woes by reducing the number of general coaches from six to four.
North Western Railway sources say that increasing the number of coaches is difficult due to the short platform length at Rishikesh railway station. Due to this issue, there has been a long-standing demand to extend the Sriganganagar–Ambala Cantt Express (Train No. 14735/36) from Ambala Cantt to Hardwar. Although the North Western Railway submitted a proposal for this during the IRTTC meetings in 2023 and 2024, the Northern Railway headquarters has yet to make a decision on the matter.
An extension to Hardwar is easily feasible given the availability of a sufficient 11-hour layover at Ambala Cantt; however, Northern Railway is paying no heed to this, opting instead to rapidly introduce numerous regular and special trains on other routes serving Hardwar, activists said.
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