Railway service in Kashmir was suspended a record 49 times during 12 months of 2017 as a “precautionary measure” during “law and order problems”.
The first day of suspension of rail service was on February 9, when death anniversary of Afzal Guru was observed.
Highest suspension of railway was witnessed in August and October, when authorities asked railways to halt service 9 times during each of these months. While services on the 137 kilometer Baramulla-Banihal railway network was fully suspended 27 times, 22 partial suspensions took place this year, official figures suggest. Chief Area Manager (CAM), Northern Railways, Hari Mohan told Greater Kashmir that each day of suspension results into a loss of around Rs 3 lakhs for the railways.
The CAM said he will soon approach divisional authorities asking them to ‘avoid’ frequent suspension of rail service.