Northern Railways Wednesday completed the restoration work on damaged railway track from Budgam to Srinagar and according to officials train service from Srinagar to Budgam resumed from Thursday. The repair work on the other railways tracks according to officials is in progress and within ten days rail service will be resumed in North and South Kashmir.“The restoration work on damaged track from Srinagar to Budgam had been started earlier and on Wednesday Accidental Relief Train (ART) ran on tracks to assess the condition of the railway track,” General Manager Northern Railways A.K. Putia told news agency CNS adding that Railways suffered huge loss due to the damages and disruption in its services in Kashmir Valley.The signal boxes, junction boxes, wiring and other infrastructure have been badly damaged during the present unrest here.On Wednesday A.K. Putia General Manager Northern Railways, Sanjay Kishor Inspector General Railway Protection Force and other top officials inspected the railway tracks in Accidental Relief Train from Srinagar to Budgam. “A number of railway properties were damaged which forced the authorities to suspend train operations in the Valley since July 9. Since there is no train operation, its only source of income-the sale of tickets was also stopped.
The Railways in Kashmir has been suffering huge revenue loss in operating trains. We have been spending nearly Rs 80 crore annually on operation and maintenance of rail operations here and in return earn meager income,” A.K. Putia said.Responding to a question, he said that it will take at least ten days to restore Rail service in North and South Kashmir.Railway Protection Force Association president Bashir Ahmed said that Railways here have suffered huge losses. He said that during unrest angry protesters attacked the railway installations at multiple places in south Kashmir including at Panjgam, Malangpora, Pampore and Hillar. The protesters at Kakapora attempted twice to set ablaze the local station.Indian Railways, that runs a train service from south Kashmir’s Islamabad (Anantnag) to Baramulla in the north, had suspended all its operations on July 9 after Valley witnessed surge in violent incidents post Burhan Wani’s death. (CNS)