Ambala, May 25
Rail traffic to Punjab was disrupted today after protests broke out in the state due to the death of Ramanand, deputy chief of the Guru Ravi Das Sabha Gurdwara in a shooting incident in Vienna.

Thousands of passengers were inconvenienced as trains leading in and out of Punjab were cancelled. Many were terminated midway at Ambala Cantt, Ambala City, Rajpura and Doraha railway stations.

Extra booking counters have also been opened at Saharanpur, Jagadhri, Ambala Cantt, Ambala City, Rajpura and Doraha stations to facilitate passengers in getting their refunds.

The trains that have been terminated midway include Shane-e-Punjab, Dadar-Amritsar Express, Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi Express, Malwa Express, Howrah-Amritsar Express, Jansewa Express and Akaltakhat Express.

Passengers had to make their own arrangements. The Railways refunded their ticket for the remainder of the journey not undertaken. Six mail express apart from passenger trains had to be terminated.

Goods trains were, however, allowed to move to Ropar and Bhatinda.

No train movement was taking place towards Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jallandhar, Bhatinda, Ferozepur and Jammu.

According to HK Jaggi, DRM, Ambala Division, rail traffic will be allowed to function again once the situation normalises. As a precautionary measure the Railways is keeping a watch at busy level crossings. The Railway Protection Force and the GRPF are also on alert.

On the Ambala-Ludhiana stretch, which is the busiest stretch in this division, as many as 40 mail express and passenger trains ply everyday. The loss to the railways is expected to be in crores.