A new Shatabdi train will run on Chandigarh-Delhi route from January 2013 to meet a long-pending demand of the city's residents, Union Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal has announced.

Currently, there is one Shatabdi that runs from Chandigarh to New Delhi in the morning. It leaves Chandigarh at 6.50 a. m. and reaches Delhi at 9.50 a. m.

Announcing the new train, Mr. Bansal said, "Residents for long had been demanding another Shatabdi Express between Chandigarh and Delhi. The new train will be starting from January."

The minister was speaking to media persons after examining the work to upgrade the city's railway station. The minister said more facilities would be provided at the Chandigarh railway station, such as more ticket counters, more wheelchairs for handicaps and trolleys for luggage, prepaid taxis and more parking space multi-level parking.

The new Shatabdi Express will leave Chandigarh at 12 noon and reach the national capital at 3:30 p. m., and in the evening it will start from Delhi at 7:15 p. m. and reach Chandigarh at 10:30 pm.

Mr. Bansal also announced that work on the high-speed Mumbai-Ahmedabad passenger corridor had been put on a fast track mode to launch India's first high speed train at the earliest possible.

The high-speed train will run at a speed of nearly 350 kilometers per hour (kmph).