New Delhi: Railways on Wednesday carried out a massive exercise to rescue around 2,500 passengers stuck due to flooding in Jammu, including over 800 stranded for more than 28 hours in two trains. Officials said the two trains – Swaraj Express and Andaman Express – resumed their trips around 4 pm after restoration of the line between Manwal and Jammu Tawi.Another 1,500 passengers, who were stuck at the Mata Vaishno Devi Katra station, were being brought in buses to Udhampur from where they will be moved by trains on Thursday. “Arrangements of food and water were made for the stranded passengers at two small stations (Manwal and Sangar). The two trains were stuck as the track was hit by boulders amid heavy rainfall. There were several breaches and the electric poles were badly impacted. The line was restored later in the day and trains were moved cautiously up to Pathankot,” said a railway official.Sources said the Udhampur to Manwal line is likely to be restored and be ready for operation of trains by Thursday morning. They added that since the restoration of the Katra-Udhampur section would take a couple of days, there was no other option than deploying buses for stranded passengers. The railways has cancelled 65 trains in the Jammu division. Another 46 trains have been short terminated. Three trains have been partially cancelled, one was partially restored, and five others were fully restored, while 24 were short-originated and three others were diverted.
