Train services fully restored on Nurpur Road-Baijnath route
Rajiv Mahajan
Nurpur, May 11
After a gap of 10 months, the Ferozepur division of the Northern Railways on Saturday fully restored the passenger train services on the Nurpur Road-Baijnath route.
Issuing a notification on Friday, the Railways announced the resumption of the services on the route. Now, four trains — two up and two down — will ply on the route. On December 28 last year, the Railways had restored partial train services on the Kangra-Baijnath (Paprola) route.
Earlier, the services on the Nurpur Road-Kangra route were on hold. The train services on the Pathankot-Jogindernagar line were suspended on July 8, 2023, due to the rains, which had triggered landslides near the Kopar Lahar railway station. The track on a 200-metre stretch was left hanging after the landslides.
Residents of lower areas in Kangra district have been unhappy as the services were not resumed on the Nurpur Road-Kangra line.
Residents of Jawali and Dehra subdivisions in the district had organised multiple protests for the early restoration of the train services on the route after the partial restoration of the services on the narrow-gauge track.
Finally on April 26, the Railways resumed the exercise to restore the services on the left-out track by conducting a trial run of a train engine between Nurpur Road and Koparlahar stations. On May 1, a trial run was undertaken by connecting two rail coaches with the train engine.
On May 7, another trial with seven rail coaches was undertaken from Nurpur Road to the Jawalamukhi railway station. The final trial run was conducted on May 8 from Nurpur Road to Baijnath railway station.
After four successful trial runs, the Railways announced restoration of the suspended train services from May 11.
As per the notification, the first train (04700) will leave from Baijnath at 6 am and reach Nurpur Road at 12 pm. The second train (04686) will leave from Baijnath at 3 pm and reach Nurpur Road railway station at 9.25 pm.
Similarly, the first train (04699) from Nurpur Road will depart at 6 am and reach Baijnath at 12 pm. The second train (04685) will leave from Nurpur Road at 2.30 pm and reach Baijnath at 8.20 pm.
Before August 2022, trains were plying between the Pathankot railway station and the Jogindernagar railway station. In August 2022, the interstate Chakki railway bridge at Kandwal in Nurpur had washed away due to flash floods in the Chakki rivulet. The Railways had suspended the train services on the route. But following the public demand, the Railways had restored services with two trains (up and down) between Nurpur Road and Baijnath railway station after a few months of the bridge collapse.
Residents wanted early resumption of services
- On December 28 last year, the Railways had restored partial train services on the Kangra-Baijnath (Paprola) route.
- Earlier, the services on the Nurpur Road-Kangra route were on hold. The train services on the Pathankot-Jogindernagar line were suspended on July 8, 2023, due to the rains, which had triggered landslides near the Kopar Lahar railway station.
- Residents of Jawali and Dehra subdivisions in the district had organised multiple protests for the early restoration of the train services on the route after the partial restoration of the services on the narrow-gauge track.
Trial runs conducted
Finally on April 26, the Railways resumed the exercise to restore the services on the left-out track by conducting a trial run of a train engine between Nurpur Road and Koparlahar stations. On May 1, a trial run was undertaken by connecting two rail coaches with the train engine.
