Rail traffic restored; Special Train pressed in service

1. Only 5-7K passengers are at Jmu Rly Stn: DTM
   
2. Stranded passengers face hardships
   
3. Large scale damages to Railway 
   
4. Properties worth crores destroyed 
5. WR short terminates trains 
   
   
   After 36 hours following protests in Punjab, rail traffic was restored in Punjab at 3:30 PM on Tuesday afternoon and the first train left from Jammu Tawi to Varanasi via Punjab giving a big relief to passengers, even as thousands of passengers, including Vaishno Devi pilgrims, remained stranded at the Railway Station Jammu.
   Rail traffic was badly affected for nearly 36 hours in Punjab because of the spiralling violence over the killing of a Sikh sect leader in Vienna and the Northern Railways had to cancel as many as 30 trains on Monday and four trains on Tuesday afternoon.
   Thousands of passengers were stranded at different Railway Stations because of the halted train service and they were provided shelter at Gurudwaras and Railway Colonies in Punjab and other stations enroute.
   Talking to this reporter , Divisional Traffic Manager (DTM), Ashok Sharma said that only 5,000 to 7,000 passengers were left stranded at the Jammu Railway Station in the late evening and will be cleared soon. He added that a special train, Delhi Passenger Special has been pressed into service to clear the stranded passengers from Jammu Railway Station.
   Sharma added, “Our focus is to clear the stranded passengers first for which every possible move is being taken.” "After the services are restored, we will clear all stranded passengers within 24 hours," he added. 
   When asked about the losses suffered by the Northern Railways due to the 36 hours halt, Sharma mentioned, “The losses will be calculated tomorrow, our priority at this point is to clear the passengers stranded at Jammu Railway Station and make arrangements for them.”
   Relevent to mention here that till Tuesday afternoon, over 25,000 passengers were stranded, including pilgrims to the Vaishno Devi shrine, who were battling scorching heat at the Railway Station Jammu. 
   The situation in trouble-torn Punjab on Tuesday was tense but under control after violence swept the state on Monday. Buses were not plying in the state and most of the train services remained curtailed. The first train that passed through Ludhiana on Tuesday morning was Guwahati-Jammu Himgiri express. However, roads, which had been blocked by protestors who had set up barricades, have been cleared for traffic. 
   Meanwhile, three trains bound for Punjab and Jammu were terminated at Ambala junction, including Dadar-Amritsar express, Mumbai-Amritsar deluxe and Shaheed express. Three trains were cancelled including Amritsar-Nanded Sachkhand express, Amritsar-Jansewa express and Meerut-Ludhiana superfast.
   The Railway authorities opened special counters to facilitate the cancellation of tickets. Some of the stranded passengers managed to leave Jammu by buses or private cars during the night.
   Braving the scorching heat, many passengers are putting up at platforms or the Waiting Halls of the Railway Station.
   Worthwhile to mention here that Railways had cancelled 19 trains from Jammu passing through Punjab after violence broke out in Jalandhar and other neighbouring districts of Punjab on Monday, leaving more than about 17,000 passengers, mostly Vaishno Devi pilgrims, stranded at Jammu Railway Station.
   Five trains, including Inter-City Varanasi, Sonapur and Bandra trains, which were stranded at various places have reached Jammu Railway station on Tuesday, while two trains reached Jammu in the morning after crossing Punjab during the night.
   The number of stranded passengers is likely to go up as pilgrims are continuing to return from Vaishno Devi shrine as also other people, who were scheduled to leave from Jammu station to other parts of the country. 
   The Guest Houses and Hotels around the area are all full and it is really very difficult for the stranded people to manage in this hot weather with children. Some were running short of money so had to make their family sleep on the Railway platform.
   As the stranded passengers were battling for everything two social organisations and the state unit of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) organised Langers at the Railway Station to provide food to stranded pilgrims.
   Reports said that several hundred passengers have already left for Delhi and other stations through alternative modes of road transport.
   Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Jammu, Manohar Singh visited the Railway Station on Tuesday to monitor the basic amenities like water, medicines and food for the passengers.
   Moreover, some mobile toilet vans have been set up for the convenience of stranded passengers. 
   Free Langers were organized at the Railway Station by the administration with the support of NGOs and Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) while as adequate number of tankers have been pressed into service to provide drinking water to the passengers. Two medical camps, one each at the platform of Railway Station and outside the station have been set up to facilitate the held up passengers. Besides, all arrangements for maintaining sanitation in and around the premises of Railway Station have also been ensured to prevent the outbreak of any disease.
   Free food was also being provided by the Northern Railway Women's Welfare Organisation at various places.
   Railways had cancelled over 30 trains yesterday and regulated another 10 because of the violence. Over 14 trains were also left stranded midway at several stations in the state as protesters squatted on rail tracks.
   The violence also caused large scale damage to Railway properties, with sources saying properties worth crores were destroyed due to burning of coaches and stone pelting at the locomotives.
   Earlier, thirsty, hungry and exhausted! This is how one could best describe the state of affairs and mental makeup of several thousand stranded passengers at Jammu Railway Station awaiting their turn to get on board trains to reach home safely since Monday.
   Before the train services were restored on Tuesday the stranded passengers faced lot of hardships at the Jammu Railway Station as unhygienic conditions and foul smell emanating from over crowded toilets made life miserable for passengers camping at railway platforms.
   Women and small children were the worst sufferers followed by elderly citizens who accompanied their wards to perform holy pilgrimage to Mata Vaishno Devi shrine.
    The looming uncertainties had started taking heavy toll on the psyche of the stranded passengers but as the day progressed passengers were hugely relieved as they heard the positive news for the first time in the last 36 hours. Divisional Traffic Manager, Ashok Sharma made a sudden announcement minutes after the state Health Minister, Sham Lal Sharma made a surprise visit to the Jammu Railway Station to supervise steps being taken by the local authorities to help stranded passengers and assured the passengers that the Railway authorities and the State Government were making all out efforts to rescue them from crisis situation. Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, Dr. Mandeep K. Bhandari, IG, Crime and Railways, A. Anjum, Director Health Services, Jammu, Dr. Jasbeer Singh, Chief Engineer, PHE, V. K Abrol, SSP, Jammu, S. Manohar Singh, CMO, Jammu, Dr. Shahid Mugal and senior officers of Railways also accompanied the minister. 
   The rail network was finally restored following an improvement in general law and order situation across Punjab and thousands of passengers embarked on train journeys to reach their destinations one by one.
    It may be mentioned that the train services were hit hard on Monday morning after few bogies of Jammu bound train were torched by angry protestors at Jallandhar.
   Since Monday more than twenty thousand passengers were struggling to cope with the adverse conditions in the absence of basic hygienic conditions on over crowded railway platforms. At several places the passengers found it difficult to even find enough space to accommodate their luggage and had to shift out in the open outside Railway Station building.
   MEANWHILE: Reports from Ahmedabad added that Western Railways (WR) have effected short term termination of trains today in view of the agitation in Punjab.
   Western Railway sources said here that Train No-9223 Ahmedabad-Jammu Tawi Express will be short-terminated at Ferozepur and its return service 9224 will originate from Ferozepur.
   Train No 1057 Dadar-Amritsar was short-terminated at Ambala and will originate as 1058 Dadar Express from Ambala, which will remain cancelled between Ambala-Amritsar-Ambala. Train No 2471 Bandra-Jammu Tawi Swaraj Express has been short-terminated at New Delhi and will originate as 2472 from New Delhi. 
   Train No 2919 Indore-Jammu Tawi Malwa Express will be short-terminated at Ambala and will originate as 2920 Malwa Express from Ambala today. Train No 2925 Amritsar-Bandra (T) Paschim Express has been short-terminated at Ambala and its return service 2926 Paschim Express will originate from Ambala.