Bengal: Rail blockade withdrawn after 5 hours; 2 trains cancelled, several diverted

Kolkata: A rail blockade by agitators at West Bengal’s Jorai railway station demanding a separate state of Cooch Behar led to the cancellation of two trains and diversion of several others on Wednesday, an official said.

The blockade by the Greater Coochbehar People's Association (GCPA) at Jorai railway station in Alipurduar division of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) started at 6.45 am, and was withdrawn around 11.45 am, following which normal train movement was restored, he said.

The agitators said they were holding the “indefinite” rail blockade to press for their demand for the creation of ‘Greater Coochbehar’.

Thousands of protesters had assembled at the station in the morning and blocked tracks, prompting the deployment of a large number of RPF, GRP and local police personnel to prevent any untoward incident, the NFR official said.

“Consequent upon the withdrawal, the track was inspected and given fit for train movement. Accordingly, normal movement of trains has been restored over that section,” he said.

The 22227/22228 New Jalpaiguri-Guwahati-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express and 15704/15703 Bongaigaon-New Jalpaiguri-Bongaigaon Express were cancelled owing to the agitation.

At least eight trains were diverted via the New Coochbehar-Golakganj-Fakiragram route, he said.

The trains that were diverted include the 20503 Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, 12423 Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, 15657 Brahmaputra Mail and 15959 Kamrup Express, the official said.