Guwahati, July 11 (IANS) After five days of disruption due to landslides, the train services between south Assam, Tripura, Manipur and Mizoram and the rest of the country via Guwahati partially resumed on Friday, officials said.

The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Kapinjal Kishore Sharma said that the Agartala-SMVT Bengaluru Humsafar Express and Silchar–Guwahati special train are being run for the benefit of stranded passengers. He said that trains running in the Lumding-Badarpur Hill section have been disrupted due to the falling of huge earth, muck, boulders, etc, in huge quantities from the adjoining hills over the railway track between Mupa-Dihakho stations of Lumding Division.

Due to ongoing restoration work in Assam’s mountainous Dima Hasao district, train movements are being regulated on this section. Though the clearance of landslides and restoration of railway tracks was underway on a war footing manner, the Railway officials have not yet confirmed when normal train services would be restored in the region.

According to NFR CPRO, train operations on the single line railway track have been suspended until full clearance of debris to ensure safety. Northeast Frontier Railway officials and senior engineers are continuously supervising the restoration work at the site and machines and adequate manpower were mobilised for the early restoration of train services, he said.

Help desks have been opened to facilitate passengers at Guwahati, Lumding, Silchar, Badarpur and Agartala stations. Since June 23, the railway network of southern Assam comprising Cachar, Karimganj, Hailakandi districts, along with Dima Hasao district, Tripura, Manipur, and Mizoram has been cut off from the rest of the country for the third time, due to landslides.

After a week of disruption due to landslides in the same Lumding-Badarpur hill section, regular train services between Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram, and the rest of the country via Guwahati fully resumed on June 30. Vital train services in the Lumding-Badarpur hill section of the Lumding division have been disrupted since June 23 after landslides hit the railway track in the same mountainous areas.

Again, after a day’s disruption due to landslides, normal train services in the region resumed on July 4. During the monsoon period from June to September every year, several northeastern states, especially Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and southern Assam, remain cut off from the rest of the country for weeks because of landslides, waterlogging and damage to railway tracks, leading to severe hardship for the people of the region.

–IANS

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