Jammu: The Jammu-Katra shuttle train service remained suspended for the second consecutive day on Thursday due to floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains.
The downpour caused a landslide that blocked the portal of tunnel number 16 on the Jammu–Udhampur rail section between Ramnagar and Manwal.
“Due to heavy rainfall and landslides, railways have decided to cancel the shuttle train service between Jammu and Katra today,” said Chief Public Relations Officer Himanshu Shekhar Upadhyay.
The shuttle service, launched on September 1 with four trains, was scheduled to operate till September 15 to assist locals and stranded passengers.
Rail traffic in the Jammu division has been halted for nine days following track misalignment and breaches across the Pathankot–Jammu section after flash floods on August 26.
To ease the situation, railways has operated seven special trains over the past four days, ferrying 5,784 stranded passengers from Jammu.
Heavy rains since August 26 have left scores of people, including pilgrims, stranded as both rail and road connectivity in the region took a hit. A landslide near the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra has already claimed 34 lives.
