RAIL TRAFFIC HIT, 37 TRAINS CANCELLED
The railways cancelled 37 trains and diverted 16 on Saturday, a day after 60 people were mowed down by a train in Amritsar. The railways said 10 mail/express trains and 27 passenger trains were cancelled. While 16 trains were diverted, 18 were terminated mid-way.
AMRITSAR/JALANDHAR/DELHI: The railways cancelled 37 trains and diverted 16 on Saturday, a day after 60 Dussehra revellers were mowed down by a train in Amritsar, officials said.
The railways said 10 mail/ express trains and 27 passenger trains were cancelled. While 16 trains were diverted and reached their destination through a different route, 18 were terminated before their destination, Northern Railway spokesperson Deepak Kumar said.
The trains which remained cancelled included ChandigarhAmritsar City Express (12411), Nangal Dam-Amritsar Express (14506), Amritsar-Chandigarh City Express (12412), AmritsarNangal Dam Express (14505), Ravi Express (14633) running from Amritsar-Pathankot, Ravi Express-Pathankot to Amritsar (14634), Haridwar-Amritsar Jan Shatabdi Express (12053), Amritsar-Haridwar Jan Shatabdi Express (12054), New-Delhi to Jalandhar City Express (14681), Amritsar Jn to New Delhi Express (12460) and Jan Seva Express (15210). Rail traffic on the Jalandhar-Amritsar route was suspended, he said.
Several trains to Amritsar were either short terminated or diverted. As many as 7 trains, including Dehradun to Amritsar (Lahori) Express (14631) Saharsa Garib Rath (12204), Amritsar-Lal Kuan Express (14616), Amritsar Nanded Sachkhand Express (12716) were diverted.
Shan-E-Punjab (12497), Shatabdi (12029), Chandigarh-Amritsar Express and Jan Shatabdi (12053) from Phagwara were short terminated from Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Kartarpu and Phagwara, respectively.
Railway Board chairman Ashwani Lohani said the accident occurred at a midsection between the Amritsar and Manawala stations. “There was no information and no permission sought. The event happened at a place adjoining the railway land in private property,” he said.
“At midsections trains run at assigned speeds and people are not expected to be on the track. At midsections, there is no railway staff posted. We have staff at level crossings whose job is to regulate traffic,” he said.
Lohani said the gateman at Jaura Phatak level crossing was 400 metres away. If the driver had applied emergency brakes, there could have been a bigger tragedy, he said.
Most of the GRP) staff from Jalandhar was sent to Amritsar.