Normal train services restored in northeastern India

 The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) restored normal train services Thursday connecting Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and southern Assam with the rest of India, nearly a week after all night trains in the region were cancelled for security reasons.

"Both passenger and goods trains would run normally from Thursday. Additional security would be provided on the running trains as well as along the route," a railway spokesperson told IANS.

The night trains were cancelled for an indefinite period after militants attacked the Agartala Express near Lower Haflong in Assam last Friday (Oct 5), the spokesperson added.

Militants attacked the Agartala-bound train between Bagetar and Lower Haflong stations in the mountainous Dima Hasao district.

According to railway police in Silchar, nobody was injured in the attack, however, the engine of the train was partially damaged.
"The decision to resume the service was taken after reviewing the security in the mountainous areas," the railway spokesperson said.

The firing took place hours after the Assam and the central governments decided to sign a peace accord with two factions of the Dimasa tribal militant groups - one led by Dilip Nunisa and the other by Jewel Garlosa.

The Indigenous People's Forum - a grouping of all non-Dimasa communities in the district - had opposed the move.

The NFR connects Tripura's capital Agartala and parts of Manipur, Mizoram and southern Assam with the rest of the country by a single 108-year-old metre-gauge railway track.