Intra-Kashmir train service to resume after 100-days

The trial run of intra-Kashmir train service was held on Monday and the service is likely to resume from Tuesday after remaining suspended for the past 100-days due to the ongoing uncertainty in the Valley.

Railway authorities suspend the train service on the 137-kilometer Banihal-Baramulla line as a “precautionary measure” citing “law and order” as the reason just a day before the J&K special status under Article 370 was revoked on August 5.

By 2020, the government of India plans to connect Kashmir to Kanyakumari through train service.

On Monday, in the presence of senior officers from the Indian railways and security forces, a trial run was conducted ahead of resuming the service completely, a railway official said. Later the train plied from Srinagar to Baramulla stretch.

However, the train didn’t ply on volatile south Kashmir section, he said and added "If everything goes well, the train services can be restored fully from November 12.

The official said that the government had taken the decision to suspend train service keeping in mind the safety of passengers.

“The service was resumed after security agencies in the Valley gave a green signal,” he said.

On a normal day, at least 15 pairs of the train run regularly from Baramulla to Banihal and carry almost 30,000 passengers, including students and employees. The suspension of the train service has put commuters to immense hardships.

Thousands of employees and students from north and south Kashmir, who had to travel to Srinagar daily, were the worst affected by the suspension of train service.

The move has come as a sigh of relief for them and it has been welcomed by the common man as they were finding it hard to commute to their daily work through road.

A team of members from Passenger Service Committee Railway Board of Union Railway Ministry which conducted a two-day visit to the Valley in July had in its feedback expressed dismay over frequent train cancellations in Kashmir.

It has also forced shelving railways plan to introduce a glass-roofed Vistadome coach which was aimed to attract tourist passengers.