After remaining suspended for more than three months since August 5, rail services are set to be resumed in Kashmir Valley from November 11.
The decision to suspend the train services was taken to ensure safety of passengers and railway property.
Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Baseer Ahmad Khan on Wednesday directed the Railway authorities to restore the train services in Valley from next week.
According to official sources, "the railway authorities have been directed to conduct a thorough track inspection within three days, which will be followed by a trial run on November 10 and the resumption of services from November 11".
A high-level review meeting was attended by IGP Kashmir zone, SSP Srinagar, SSP Railways, Additional Commissioner, Kashmir, ADC Srinagar, Chief Controller, Northern Railways, Senior Divisional Mechanical engineer, Northern railways and other concerned officials.
Besides, DC Baramulla, DC Anantnag, DC Pulwama, ADC Budgam, SSP Sopore, SSP Awantipora, SSP Pulwama, SSP Baramulla and SSP Budgam attended the meeting through video conferencing where their feedback was gathered by the railway authorities on the prevailing ground situation in their respective areas of jurisdiction.
On an average, 30, 000 passengers used to travel between Banihal to Baramulla on daily basis. In the absence of rail services, the railway authorities incurred heavy losses to the tune of several crores.
According to official sources, "in the last three years, the train services remained suspended for over 300 days, highest being 135 days in 2016".
The situation improved relatively in 2017. Train services remained suspended for only 25 days during the whole year while in 2018, the train services were shut down on 92 days, incurring loses to the tune of 1.2 cores.
In 2019, the train services remained suspended for over 100 days at different intervals.
In the aftermath of killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander, angry protesters had targeted railway property and vandalised bogies parked on the tracks.