Umaisar Gull Ganie
Anantnag, Jan 24: As the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway remained closed for the second consecutive day due to slippery conditions, train services witnessed heavy rush with coaches jam-packed. The railways arranged two additional reserved special trains to cater to the surge in passengers.
This reporter visited the highway and the railway station and found tourists stranded on the highway at Qazigund, who later returned to Anantnag railway station and boarded overcrowded trains.
Ishfaq, a tourist from Jaipur, told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that all roads in the Kashmir Valley were closed, forcing them to travel by train. “We tried to travel by road but were asked to return. Now we are heading by train,” he said.
Mohammad Asralan, also from Jaipur, said they have been stuck on the highway for the last two days and decided to travel by train due to the on-going disruption.
“Train is the only option left for us as we were stranded. All seats are booked and no ticket is available. The train is fully packed,” he said, adding that direct train service to Delhi should be introduced to ease suffering of passengers.
Shauita, a passenger from Noida, said they were still unsure about their travel plan as the station was overcrowded. “There is too much rush inside the train and no place for passengers,” she said.
Passengers urged that the highway should be restored as soon as possible.
Railways said that two reserved special trains have been planned owing to the closure of the highway and the heavy rush of passengers.
“In view of extremely heavy passenger rush between Katra and Srinagar due to closure of roads and flights owing to inclement weather, it is proposed to run suitable reserved special trains on the route of the non-running Vande Bharat on 27th and 28th January 2026 between Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra and Srinagar and vice-versa, with en-route stoppage at Banihal, so that at least two train services remain available on the section,” the communication said—(KNO)
