india

Updated: Nov 17, 2019 08:48 IST

The railways on Saturday carried out the first of the two trial runs ahead of the resumption of train services via south Kashmir on Monday, officials said. The trial run was held between Srinagar in Kashmir and Jammu region’s Banihal, over 100 kilometers away.

“A train left Srinagar in the morning and returned in the afternoon from Banihal as part of the trial run,” a railways official said. Another trial run will be held on Sunday a day before the train services resume.

Railway services in north Kashmir resumed earlier this week on Tuesday from Srinagar to Baramulla, 55 kilometers away. The resumption came three months after the services were suspended as the Centre imposed a lockdown and communication blackout to prevent protests against its move to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and to split the state into two Union Territories.

Senior police superintendent (railway security) Shafaqat Ahmad said that the security needed for the resumption of railway services via south Kashmir has been put in place.

Officials said that the resumption will follow a clearance from the Jammu and Kashmir police. They said that after every 15 days, the railways would seek permission and security clearance from the police. “Only after the security clearance, the trains are being made operational,’’ said another official.

A trial run was also held on Monday before railways services between Baramulla and Srinagar resumed.

Officials said that 35,000 to 40,000 commuters would use train services daily in summers and around 25,000 in winters in Kashmir. They added that there has not been even a single attack on any railway property in the Valley over the last three months.

The railways had directed its staff to store ration and water for four months and detailed preventive measures in case of protests or attacks ahead of the revocation of the special status.

In 2016, railway services in Kashmir remained suspended for over six months in view of protracted violence following Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani’s killing. They were disrupted for over two months because of devastating floods two years earlier.