Amritsar: Khatkar Kalan — Bhagat Singh's ancestral village in Punjab named after him — was given its first railway connectivity till Amritsar. The train, Jaijon-Doaba-Jalandhar DEMU, has extended its connectivity — from Nawanshahr to Amritsar. The extended route will benefit visitors from Majha region to Khatkar Kalan and vice-versa, according to a report. Passengers travelling from the Jaijon Doaba region will also have the opportunity to visit the Golden Temple. Traders, especially cloth merchants, are likely to be benefitted.

"There are a large number of cloth merchants in Nawanshahr and Garhshankar areas who have been procuring their cloth from Amritsar on a daily basis and spending a huge amount on travelling in buses but this train will save them money," said a cloth merchant Naveen Kumar Khosla from Nawanshahr.

The extended route, which originates from Jaijon village of Hoshiarpur District, will cover a distance of over 200 kilometres to Amritsar through the districts of Nawanshahr and Jalandhar.

The train fare from Jaijon to Amritsar is likely to be about Rs 60 per passenger, while the fare for a passenger travelling from Nawanshahr to Amritsar would be Rs 50. Commuters earlier spent Rs 200 per ticket from Jaijon to Amritsar while travelling by a bus. Also, the train, which came via Nawanshahr, earlier used to get terminated at Jalandhar railway station.