Guwahati, July 9 (IANS) The railway services between Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram, and the rest of the country via Guwahati continue to disrupted for the third consecutive day on Wednesday due to landslides in the Lumding-Badarpur hill section under Assam’s Dima Hasao district, officials said.

Railway officials have not yet confirmed when the normal train services would be restored in the region.

Ongoing rain is also affecting the restoration work.

The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO), Kapinjal Kishore Sharma, said that a train running in the Lumding-Badarpur hill section was disrupted on Monday due to the falling of earth, muck, boulders, etc, in huge quantities from the adjoining hills over the railway track between Mupa-Dihakho stations of Lumding division.

He added that due to the landslides, the track has been suspended for train operation until the clearance of debris to ensure safety.

Sharma said that under the supervision of the senior engineers and Northeast Frontier Railway officials, restoration work at the site has been going on utilising machines and adequate manpower.

Help desks have been opened to facilitate passengers at Guwahati, Lumding, Silchar, Badarpur and Agartala stations.

Since June 23, Assam, Tripura, Manipur, and Mizoram have been disconnected by railway network from the rest of the country for the third time due to landslides on the single-line railway track.

After a day’s disruption due to landslides, normal train services in the region resumed on July 4.

Earlier, 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.

The vital train services in the Lumding-Badarpur hill section of the Lumding division have been disrupted since June 23 after landslides badly affected the railway track in the mountainous areas under Assam’s Dima Hasao district.

During the monsoon period (June to September), every year, several northeastern states, especially Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and Assam, remain cut off from the rest of the country for weeks owing to landslides, waterlogging and damage to railway tracks, leading to hardship for the people of the region.

–IANS

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