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Written by Raakhi Jagga
| Ludhiana |
Updated: November 24, 2020 1:42:10 am
A goods train passing through Ludhiana. (Express photo Gurmeet Singh)Train services resumed in Punjab on Monday, with two freights trains leaving and more than a dozen others entering the state, after they were stranded outside Punjab for nearly two months. Passenger trains also started rolling into the state, with the Una-Himachal Jan Shatabdi Express crossing Punjab to reach Chandigarh.
Long-distance passenger trains that left for Punjab from other states on Monday will start making stopovers at stations in the state beginning Tuesday morning.
“To start with, two goods trains have moved out of Punjab from Jalandhar and Jammu from Ferozepur Railway Division. One goods train carrying gypsum started from Jammu at 2 pm and went to Lucknow, while another empty bogie tank wagons for loading of petroleum products was sent from Jalandhar to New Delhi at the same time… Gradually, trains which were short terminated at Ambala or other stations have also now started entering Punjab,” said Rajesh Aggarwal, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Ferozepur division.
As per the schedule released by Ambala division, 40 passenger/ mail express trains which were short terminated earlier, have been restored fully and will be arriving/originating from Punjab on different dates ranging from November 23 to November 30 depending upon their schedule.
Aggarwal added: “Gradually movement of trains will start on tracks as per their time table.”
Talking about passenger train traffic, G M Singh, DRM (Ambala Division) said, “Una-Himachal Jan Shatabdi which was being short-terminated at Ambala since October 1 finally arrived at Chandigarh Monday evening and moved ahead for Una. It came from New Delhi.”
He added, “Freight trains which were stuck behind have started entering Punjab and soon more trains will move out of Punjab as well. This is an ongoing process. Our internal movement of engines is also going on.”
Ferozepur Division DRM said,”Before starting rail services, government railway police (GRP) and railway protection force (RPF) did complete inspection of all the rail tracks falling in Ferozepur division in Punjab and J&K. On the intervening night of November 22 and 23, GRP and RPF did an inspection via light engineering engines, while during day time on Monday till noon — foot to foot inspection was done. When an okay report was given to us, freight movement was started as tracks were lying empty for the past 2 months.”
Meanwhile, Kisan Mazdoor Sangrash Committee, which is protesting near a rail track outside Amritsar in Jandiala Guru, said Monday evening it will not let passenger trains pass through the track. Their late evening talks with Punjab government failed on Monday. However so far, Railways has not announced any change in their train running schedule.