Rail traffic back on track in Amritsar as farmers end blockade

Neeraj Bagga

Amritsar, May 21

A day after farmers lifted over a month-long blockade of the railway track at Shambhu border with Haryana which caused disruption of rail traffic, movement of over 30 trains was restored at Amritsar railway station on Tuesday. A majority of these trains were daily in nature.

About 23 daily trains that were earlier diverted were back on their original track and seven that were cancelled also resumed service offering respite to the beleaguered passengers. It also brought a sigh of relief from the vendors at the Amritsar railway station who had been feeling the pinch of low sales.

The seven pair of both Up and Down trains which had been cancelled and were restored today included 12497 and 12498 between Amritsar and New Delhi, 12459 and 12460 between Amritsar and New Delhi, 12053 and 12054 between Amritsar and Howrah, 14653 and 14654 between Amritsar and Hisar, 12411 and 12412 between Amritsar and Chandigarh, 14506 and 14505 between Amritsar and Nangal Dam, 12241 and 12242 between Amritsar and Chandigarh.

The 23 pairs of diverted trains which were today back on their original track included 13151 Kolkata-Amritsar, 18237 Chhattisgarh Express, 13005 Howrah-Amritsar, 15707 Katihar-Amritsar, 11057 Dadar-Amritsar, 12029 New Delhi-Amritsar Swarn Shatabdi, 04651 Jaynagar-Amritsar, 14617 Purnea Court-Amritsar, 14649 Jaynagar-Amritsar, 14673 Jaynagar-Amritsar, 22487 Delhi-Amritsar, 12715 Sachkhand Express, 12203 Garib Rath from Saharsa to Amritsar, 20807 Vishakhapatnam, 12013 New Delhi to Amritsar, 12903 Golden Temple Express from Mumbai Central to Amritsar, 12357 Kolkata to Amritsar, 19325 Indore to Amritsar, 12483 Trivandrum Kuchuveli to Amritsar, 12379 Sealdah to Amritsar, 04653 New Jalpaiguri to Amritsar, 22125 Nagpur to Amritsar and 14603 Saharsa to Amritsar.

Travelling by train had become an ordeal for passengers with farmers laying siege to the railway track for nearly a month. Disruption of train schedule upset the lives of commuters and impacted business.

Vendors at the railway station earning their livelihood by selling eatables and necessary articles demanded compensation from the railways to meet their fixed expenses. They stated that frequent blockades upset their accounts making them unable to make both ends meet. A similar blockade in February had caused them losses. Now, they are against staring at losses. They state that each vendor pays a monthly rent between a minimum of Rs 15,000 to a maximum of Rs 27,000 to the railways besides 18 per cent GST over it. Apart from this, their other standing expenditure include about Rs 11.79 per unit commercial power tariff, salaries to employees, maintenance and other charges.