RailEnquiry

New Delhi: Rail traffic between Jammu and Udhampur continued to remain affected on Wednesday after a portion of a tunnel was damaged due to falling boulders and garbage, with Railways seeking state government's help to stop recurrence of such incident. The mishap, yesterday, also led to the damage of tracks between Ramnagar and Manwal near Udhampur, forcing cancellation of services. Traffic is expected to resume tomorrow. Trackman Arvind Kumar Pandey, who was deployed for patrolling of the tunnel, noticed the falling garbage and boulders over the tunnel and immediately alerted driver of a passenger train coming from Udhampur towards Jammu Tawi. "The track was disturbed due to sudden breakage of road above and about 1,200 cubic metre of garbage which was dumped near the road above," said a Northern Railway release today. Officials said the landslide occurred due to continuous seepage and obstruction to flow of water by the dumped garbage along the road-side. About 20-metre of the tunnel was damaged.

Traffic has remained affected since 7.30 am yesterday following the incident and senior railway officers including principal chief engineer of Northern Railway and divisional railway manager of Firozepur are personally monitoring the restoration work, the statement said.

Officials said the road running above is also not safe for traffic and more garbage is expected to come down unless it is not cleared immediately.

They said deputy commissioner of Udhampuar has been requested by Northern Railway administration to take immediate action for stopping the dumping of garbage and removal of already dumped garbage to avoid recurrence of incident.