NEW DELHI: After the railway minister and the chief minister of Punjab exchanged letters highlighting suspension of train services, especially freight trains in Punjab, the national transporter said on Wednesday it has resumed operations of 97 goods trains in the region.
Amid protests by farmers on rail tracks against the Centre’s new farm laws, railway minister Piyush Goyal had on October 26 sought the Punjab government’s assurance of the safety of trains and their crew members to restore freight services, hours after chief minister Amarinder Singh asked him to intervene in resuming the same.
Goods train services had resumed in the state after farmer unions on October 21 announced exempting them from their weeks-old ‘rail roko’ agitation over the farm laws. However, the railways decided to extend the suspension of goods train operations, saying protesting farmers are still blocking the tracks. “The economy is back on track once again as freight trains operations in the state of Punjab have been restored since yesterday (October 27),” said Rajiv Chaudhry, the general manager of Northern Railway and North Central Railway, in a statement.