Indian Railways is restarting train operations in Punjab from today! After farmers in Punjab suspended their agitation against the contentious farm laws for 15 days, the national transporter has decided to resume train services from 23 November 2020. The Northern Railway zone has announced that a tentative plan for the restoration of train services has already been formulated. As per the zonal railways’ plan, from 23 November 2020, freight train services will start running with a maximum speed of 60 km per hour in view of safety and security considerations. The plan of Northern Railways is subject to track safety clearances, according to an IE report. From the evening of 23 November 2020 till 29 November 2020, the national transporter is looking to run 17 pairs of trains as per the schedule.

On Friday, Indian Railways had insisted that that train services through the state of Punjab would resume only after assurance of security to all trains is provided by the state government. On Friday, the unprecedented stoppage of all train services in the state of Punjab completed its 56th day. Since farmers in Punjab began a protest in the month of September against the central government’s new farm laws, a total of 2,352 passenger trains have been cancelled or diverted.

In Punjab, with the five thermal power plants not getting coal, the supply of fertilizer had stopped, as has the evacuation of foodgrains from the state’s silos, IE had reported. Besides, container operations, carrying export material from the hosiery belt in Ludhiana, have stopped as well. As per official data, since 24 September 2020, the Northern Railway zone had suffered a total loss of Rs 891 crore, while Indian Railways had suffered an estimated loss of Rs 2,220 crore. As many as 3,850 freight trains could not be loaded, and on the other hand, 230 loaded freight trains were stranded outside the state of Punjab. Also, a total of 33 empty rakes and 96 locomotives were stuck in Punjab.