Railways conducts trial run on Nurpur Road to Guler stretch
Three months after the narrow-gauge railway track was damaged due to landslides triggered by the monsoon rains, the Ferozepur Division of the Northern Railways on Tuesday undertook a successful trial run of a train engine with seven coaches between Nurpur Road and Guler railway stations.
The railways had conducted successful trials of the engine with a one coach from Baijnath to Kangra on Saturday and from Baijnath to Jogindernagar railway stations on Sunday. A spokesperson said after the successful trials, the train service was likely be restored between Nurpur Road and Baijnath railway stations next week.
The train service on the narrow-gauge railway track was suspended in the first week of July after a portion of the track was damaged by the landslides near the Ranital railway station. Only two trains (up and down) will run on the track after restoration of the train service.
The train service is considered a lifeline for the interior areas in Kangra district and after its suspension commuters have been spending seven times more on the fare by travelling in buses.
It is pertinent to mention that after the collapse of the inter-state Chakki River railway bridge at Kandwal in Nurpur in August 2022, the train service was operational only between Nurpur and Baijnath railway stations. Before the collapse of the Chakki bridge, seven trains (up and down) were running on the route from Pathankot to Jogindernagar covering 33 railway stations.
The rampant illegal mining near the Chakki bridge for the past three decades had weakened the bridge pillars and protection wall and railways had spent lakhs of rupees on the repair work before the bridge collapsed.
A new bridge is under construction and the work is likely to complete next year. The narrow gauge railway line in Kangra Valley plays a vital role in the economy of the region and can boost tourism in the district in a big way.
The British had laid the line in the valley in 1932, connecting all important towns and religious places of Kangra and some parts of Mandi district.
Successive governments had failed to upgrade the track into broad gauge one.
