Srinagar:
Suspended for nearly four months, rail service in Kashmir Valley is expected to resume within a week.
The rail service connecting south and north Kashmir was suspended on July 31 after violent protesters damaged rail tracks and ransacked several stations, forcing the non-Kashmiri staff to flee.
Authorities will begin repair work of the tracks and railway stations, damaged during recent unrest from tomorrow.
"Northern railway will start the repair of the damaged tracks and railway stations from tomorrow and it is expected that the service will resume within a week," official sources said.
The sources said a dry run of the train was conducted between Srinagar and Budgam railway stations today, which went off smoothly.
The Northern Railways had made several attempts earlier to carry out the repair work but were thwarted by miscreants who resorted to stone-pelting, the sources said.
They said a large number of paramilitary CRPF, Railway Protection Force and police personnel were deployed at the known trouble spots along the 120-km route from Qazigund in south Kashmir to Baramulla in north Kashmir.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had inaugurated the Valley's first rail service between Anantnag to Budgam district on October 11, 2008, much to the delight of the locals who were waiting for such a mode of transport for decades.
The second phase of the train between Budgam to Baramulla was flagged off by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on February 14, 2009, followed by the third phase between Anantnag to Qazigund by the Prime Minister on October 28.
The service was a big success among the people before the worsening of the law and order situation in the Valley on June 11 following the killing of a boy.