Train services resume in Kashmir, passengers relieved

Bringing much relief to the passengers, train services on the Baramulla-Banihal railway track resumed after remaining closed for many days due to floods in Jammu and Kashmir.

Train services were badly affected due to worst flooding in the valley. Besides claiming hundreds of lives and inundating thousands of homes, the flood destroyed military bases and hospitals in main city Srinagar after the Jhelum River overflowed its banks.

Now with the train services resuming, passengers said it would also help boost their businesses, making it easier to commute.

"This is good news. People are happy as now they can reach to their destinations in time. This train takes five to six trips in a day," said a passenger Shabbir Sheikh.

More than 75,000 people were still in partly submerged homes in Srinagar, Kashmir's main city of more than a million people, where roads have been transformed into stagnant canals strewn with wreckage, trash and dead animals.

Meanwhile, the fourth bridge on the River Tawi was also be reopened. After floods washed away the entire Jammu region, several bridges and connecting roads were closed. It led to massive traffic snarl in the valley, causing enough misery and loss to the passengers and traders.

Passengers said the reopening of the bridge will not only save time and money but will also ease out the flow of traffic.

"The expert agencies are working for the permanent restoration of the bridge and they are making the detailed project. In that project we need to stop the water from reaching the approach road by building walls. We will start working soon. Now the bridge has been opened for the traffic," said Jammu's Deputy Commissioner of Police Ajeet Kumar Sahu.

Sahu said temporary work is going on in full swing on the damaged bridges and roads in the state and over 80 percent of the work is completed.

Both the Indian and Pakistani sides of Kashmir have seen extensive flooding this month with Srinagar particularly hard hit. Hundreds of people have been killed and tens of thousands are homeless.

Authorities say the cost of damage in Jammu and Kashmir may run into billions of dollars.