ER to resume partial train services to and from North Bengal..

Kolkata, 18 December (HS): After the cancellation of all North Bengal bound trains for the past four days because of unabated violence in several stations and destruction of railway signaling system by unruly mob, causing immense suffering to thousands of people, the Eastern Railway today decided to resume partial train services to redress the people’s miseries.

The official at the Eastern Railway’s headquarters told Hindusthan Samachar here this afternoon that keeping in mind the sufferings of so many passengers they had decided to resume the services on both Up and Down lines of altogether nine North Bengal and Northeast bound Mail and Express trains from today.

Among those are Dibrugarh- Kamrup Express, Guwahati Saraighat Express, Silchar- Kunchenjungha Express, Balurghat -Tebhaga Express, Silchar – Tiruvanantpuram Express, Silchar-Sealdah Express, Silchar- Kolkata Kaziranga Express and  Kolkata- Guwahati Garib Rath Express which would resume their journey on both ways by tonight.

But still, the running of a number other well-known Mail and Express trains connecting North Bengal with Kolkata would continue to remain suspended because of technical reasons, the sources informed and said among these trains were Howrah- New Jalpaiguri Satabdi Express, Howrah – NJP Darjeeling Mail, Sealdah- Alipurduar Padatik Express, Howrah- Katihar Express, Sealdah- Alipurduar Teesa Torsha Express, Sealdah – Alipurduar Kanchankanya Express, Sealdah- Saharsh Hatebazare Express and  Kolkata- Radhikapur Express.

‘Since most of the automated signaling system in Howrah, Malda, and Murshidabad districts had been damaged beyond repair or destroyed by the hooligans, we had decided to run these nine trains with manually operated signaling system’, the ER sources said and apprehended that this might cause some delay in the running of trains for the time being.

According to preliminary estimates, Railway property worth more than Rs 250  crores in several stations under Eastern and South Eastern Railways were severely damaged in the name of violent protest against the introduction of CAA and NRC in West Bengal and it might take several weeks to repair them.