Rail traffic back on track

Although railway traffic along the Jammu-Pathankot stretch of the Northern Railway has resumed after it was disrupted by pro-Amarnath protestors on Tuesday, the situation is still far from normal, with trains running several hours behind schedule and a damaged signalling system posing a safety risk, even as Army troops provide additional security.

During the course of their agitation on Tuesday afternoon, about 5,000 protestors uprooted railway tracks at Ghagwal Railway Station near Samba, between Jammu and Kathua on the Jammu-Pathankot stretch, and caused significant damage to various other facilities in the station as well. The Army was immediately called in for additional security, and teams of Northern Railway8217;s engineers were rushed in to start repair work. But although they managed to complete most of the restoration work within 12 hours, the signalling system is still on shaky ground, much to the concern of railway authorities.

Confirming this, Divisional Traffic Manager DTM, Northern Railway, Jammu, Ashok Kumar Sharma said, 8220;The signalling system was almost destroyed and it is just about functioning now and has not been restored completely. Now, new signalling equipment will have to be purchased for Ghagwal Railway Station. It could take months,8221; he stated. But much to the relief of thousands of passengers stranded between Udhampur and Pathankot railway stations, train services resumed at night.

However, passengers at Jammu-Tawi station are still stranded, since trains between Jammu and Udhampur stations have been delayed by two to seven hours. Sources pointed out that many of these trains, including New Delhi-Jammu Uttar Sampark Kranti, Pooja Express, 0404B Special between Delhi-Udhampur, Jammu Mail and Shalimar Express, were late because they were held up at different places between Kathua and Jallandhar because of the damaged tracks at Ghagwal.