This weekend, all the roads lead to Shimla

“As we see the waiting list, there is a rush of passengers going to Shimla this weekend,” said a railway official from the Ambala division, adding that so far there was no plan to run more trains.

Chandigarh Auto and Taxi Association president Harcharan Singh told Chandigarh Newsline that after the first snowfall in Shimla, the demand for the cars had increased.

Officials at the Chandi Mandir toll plaza at Pinjore said that traffic to Shimla had increased by 15 per cent from Wednesday.

An official from the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking said that four buses going to Shimla were almost full on a daily basis.

At the ISBT, Sector 17, bus operators claim this weekend could see a rush of passengers. “We have five-six buses going every day to Shimla,” said Balbir Singh, an official of the Haryana Roadways in Chandigarh.

Tour operators in the city maintain they have been receiving queries from residents after the snowfall in Shimla. “We received several queries about Shimla from the city residents on Thursday morning after the fresh snowfall,” said Vaneet Sharma, manager, Sheetal Travels in Sector 17. “We usually see at the last moment, people travel to Shimla and all the hotels get occupied.”

While Shimla is witnessing an increase in the number of visitors after Wednesday’s snowfall, the taxi operators are hopeful that a huge number of people will visit the tourist destination this weekend. “We are sure that in the coming days the number of people going to Shimla will go up,” said Gurdarshan Singh, who owns Nanuan Tours & Travels in the city.