Train service on Pathankot-Jogindernagar route cancelled indefinitely; Chakki Bridge declared unsafe by railway authorities

Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur, August 2

Thousands of passengers in Kangra district shall now miss economical railway transport service on Pathankot- Jogindernagar narrow gauge as railway authorities have suspended train service indefinitely after declaring the Chakki railway bridge near Kandwal in Nurpur unsafe and unfit for plying of trains on the track.

A technical team from the Railway Division, Ferozepur (Punjab), inspecting the dilapidated condition of the Chakki Bridge recommended suspension of train service on the narrow-gauge track indefinitely and suggested re-construction of the bridge. The team has even restricted the movement of human beings on the bridge track after closing it with fencing of iron barbed wire.

It may be recalled that the railway department initially had suspended three night up and down trains on July1st keeping in view the monsoon rains and threat of triggering landslides on the railway track. But later on July 17 all remaining four up and down day time trains had been suspended due to the dilapidated condition of the Chakki railway bridge.

Unabated illegal mining near this bridge for the past over three decades had weakened the supporting pillars and protection wall of the bridge. The railway department had spent lakhs of rupees for the repair of the damaged pillars and protection wall several times during the past one decade but failed to chalk out any plan to re-construct this over ninety years old bridge that had outlived its utility.

Now sudden closure of the narrow-gauge railway track has left thousands of daily train passengers in Kangra district in lurch.