'Many people travel daily on this route and we also want to run a direct train between Amritsar and Chandigarh. However, the project is stalled because of land acquisition problems but we will soon come out with a concrete plan,' said Jaggi.

Talking about the problem of unmanned railway crossings in the state, Jaggi said: 'On priority basis we are working to convert all the unmanned crossings into manned ones and to upgrade the existing manned crossings.'

In May 2009, six students were killed when their school van collided with a train at an unmanned railway crossing at Noor Mahal town in Jalandhar district. Three children were killed and 13 injured when a school bus was hit by a rail engine at an unmanned crossing in Ferozepur town in February this year.

'Gradually we are working to do away with the railway crossings by building ROB (rail over bridge) and RUB (rail under bridge) in place of them,' Jaggi said.