CHANDIGARH: Trains bound for Jammu have been affected, as the rail traffic on the Pathankot Cantt–Kandrori section has been suspended, due to heavy soil erosion and flash floods in the Chakki River in Pathankot, which has damaged the rail track alignment.
Sources said that only one side of the rail track is working as the other side is closed. The Divisional Railway Manger of Jammu is at the spot and also the General Manger (Northern Railway) has also reached Jammu.
"The diversions are temporary and restoration work will be taken up on priority once the water level recedes and the track is stable,” said a railway official.
The Northern Railway stated that this disruption has led to the cancellation and diversion of trains, causing inconvenience to passengers. The train number 54622 Pathankot–Jalandhar City Passenger has been cancelled. While train number 22478 Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra–New Delhi Vande Bharat Express will run via Pathankot–Gurdaspur–Amritsar–Beas–Jalandhar Cantt on Tuesday instead of its usual route through Pathankot Cantt–Mukerian–Bhogpur Sirwal.
Also train number. 19224 Jammutavi–Sabarmati BG Express will also run on the same diverted route on Tuesday, skipping stops at Mirthal, Mukerian, Dasuya, Tanda Urmar, and Bhogpur Sirwal.
Chief Public Relations Officer of Northern Railway, Himanshu Shekhar Upadhyay appealed to passengers to check revised train schedules before travelling.
Also recently a road bridge over the Sahar Khad river near Logate Mor on the Jammu-Pathankot National Highway has collapsed due to swelling of the river amid continuous rains in the area.
The flooding has intensified as the overflowing Modhopur barrage crossed the one lakh cusec mark, causing inundation in several low-lying areas along the Ravi river in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir. The water levels in major rivers and streams, including Basantar in Samba, Ujh and Ravi in Kathua, Chenab in Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban and Jammu and Tawi in Udhampur and Jammu have risen sharply.