Chandigarh, July 29 - Nearly a decade after starting work on a 110-km rail link between the industrial hub of Ludhiana with this Punjab capital, a railway official Wednesday said the link will be operational by 2011.

'If the work goes as planned then the Chandigarh-Ludhiana railway link will become operational by 2011. Seeing a heavy rush of passengers and commodity traffic on this route this link is very important for the railways,' H.K. Jaggi, divisional railway manager (Ambala division), told reporters.

'We started working on the link during 1999-2000 and by the end of 2006, 45 km stretch till Morinda was ready. But after that many problems regarding land acquisition and other operational hiccups in the project delayed the work,' he said.

Jaggi said the work on a 30-km stretch is pending on the link.

'Last month we completed all the formalities of land acquisition. Hopefully the first train will run on this track in 2011,' Jaggi said.

The official said the railways are also working on the Amritsar-Chandigarh rail link.