Title - Landslide blocks rly tracks, services hit

Movement of trains remained disrupted for over three hours after fresh landslide blocked the railway tracks near Haridwar railway station on Sunday again. Earlier, the train traffic had remained affected due to similar landslides on Saturday.About 100 metres of railway tracks between Haridwar Railway station and Motichur Railway station here were buried under tonnes of debris that fell from sleep slope of Mansa Devi near tunnel number 2 on Sunday morning around 4 am. The blockage because of more than two feet debris on the tracks disrupted the movement of several trains including the Delhi-bound Janshatabdi Express.“The train traffic on the route was brought to a standstill for more than three hours because of the landslide debris on the railway tracks. The tracks could be cleared only by 7 am. After this, normal train traffic on the route was resumed,” Haridwar Railway station superintendent, Samrendra Goswami, said.Other trains which were affected because of the incident were the Varanasi-Dehradun Express, the AC Express and the Uttranchhal Express. “All these trains got delayed by several hours. Not only this, a passenger train which runs between Haridwar and Rishkesh daily, was cancelled because of the landslide debris blocking the railway tracks,” a senior Railway officials said.A team of railway employees headed by railway engineers and members of railway disaster management teams reached the site after being informed about the incident. While messages were sent to nearby railway stations to stop the trains coming on the route, several JCBs were put into the task of clearing the debris on the railway tracks. The route was finally opened for train traffic after three hours at 7 am.