Passengers travelling between Chandigarh and New Delhi on the Shatabdi corridor are set to face major disruption as Northern Railway has undertaken signalling and loop line expansion work at Shahabad Markanda and Mohri stations. The give work will cause a six-day traffic and power block on the Delhi-Ambala section.

The disruption, scheduled between May 30 and June 6, will particularly impact the Chandigarh-New Delhi Shatabdi Express (12045/12046) — one of the region’s busiest premium trains. This is used extensively by office-goers, business travellers and tourists commuting between Chandigarh, Ambala and Delhi.

Railway authorities have cancelled the Chandigarh-New Delhi and the New Delhi-Chandigarh Shatabdi services on June 6 owing to the non-interlocking commissioning work.

Apart from the outright cancellation on June 6, the Kalka-New Delhi Shatabdi (12006) will also face operational delays during the block period. It shares the same corridor and is heavily used by Chandigarh passengers from Ambala and Chandigarh.

The Railway communication said the train will be regulated by around 45 minutes in the Ambala division from May 31 to June 5.

Officials said the disruption stems from the infrastructure augmentation work involving the extension of loop lines and the commissioning of a new Electronic Interlocking (EI) system at Shahabad Markanda and Mohri stations on the Delhi-Ambala route. The corridor is among Northern Railway’s busiest stretches serving a mix of premium passenger trains, freight traffic and Vande Bharat services.

Even the Vande Bharat train will be affected. The Ajmer-Chandigarh Vande Bharat has been completely suspended for June 6.

The Anandpur Sahib-New Delhi Vande Bharat Express (22448) has also been rescheduled by nearly 135 minutes on June 6.

The impact is expected to ripple across the Chandigarh rail network as multiple premium trains running through Ambala and Chandigarh are being diverted, delayed or cancelled. Among the other affected trains are the Chandigarh-Bandra Terminus Superfast Express, Chandigarh-Madgaon Express and Chandigarh-Prayagraj Sangam Express.

The railway authorities have also imposed speed restrictions of 20 kmph in newly inserted point zones near the work site.

The communication issued by the Northern Railway has directed all divisions to ensure “wide publicity” of cancellations, diversions and rescheduling through station announcements, enquiry offices and the media.