Jammu and Kashmir: Indian Railway's on Tuesday announced the restoration of train services in Kashmir after it was stopped in the wake of heavy snowfall.
The Srinagar–Baramulla section and Srinagar–Banihal Section were cleared before permitting safe operation on the railway track. The railway track in the valley got covered under heavy snow with a thickness of 20 to 45 cm. Rail snow cutting machines were pressed into the service to clears snow over Railway Tracks.
The restoration of train services has now bought relief to the people of Kashmir who were earlier facing a lot of problems to commute within the territory especially in winters when the roads remain block due to snowfall.
The decision to re-start the train services in Kashmir valley was taken after due security audits and assurance by GRP, Jammu and Kashmir. Accordingly, inspection and trial runs were undertaken between Srinagar – Baramulla Rail Section on November 10 and between the Srinagar-Banihal section on November 16.
A limited passenger service of two trains was commenced between Srinagar-Baramulla at 45 kilometers per hour on November 12 and from Srinagar–Banihal Section on November 17 to benefit the thousands of local commuters to travel by train over the entire area between Baramulla to Banihal (138 Km).
However, the period of train service has now been increased from 5 hours to 9 hours and the section has been restored to its normal speed of 100 Kmph. The first train starts at 08:05 in the morning and all train services terminate at 5 pm.
Earlier, the inter-Kashmir valley train service was suspended after the Centre scrapped Article 370 of the Constitution that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
