New Delhi: A special train was run on Wednesday night between Katra in Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi to ferry the tourists home in the wake of the recent deadly Pahalgam terror attack.
Panic has prevailed among the tourists after the Tuesday's attack which left at least 26 people including a local ponywala dead and several others injured.
Special trains were operated by the railways to bring back the tourists stranded in Jammu and Kashmir.
A special train was run from Katra on Wednesday night which reached New Delhi Railway Station on Thursday morning with the tourists. ETV spoke to the passengers who reached New Delhi Railway Station from Jammu and Kashmir to know their reaction after the attack.
Bharti, who reached New Delhi Railway Station from Katra, said that they were on a family trip to visit Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra on 21 April.
“After the terrorist attack, Jammu and Kashmir was closed for two days due to which, we had to face problems for a short time, but later everything was fine. The security arrangements were good. The railways also helped a lot by running special trains for the passengers,” she said.
Another passenger Subodh Singh said that they cut short a four day visit to the region in the wake of the deadly attack.
“We had made a plan of four days to visit Jammu and Kashmir. We were scared due to the terrorist attack, so we came back after visiting Shri Mata Vaishno Devi only. Other tourists are also scared there,” he said.
“I had a reserved ticket in another train for return, but a special train was run by the railways. I took an instant ticket and came back to Delhi. I am breathing a sigh of relief after reaching Delhi”.
Nasir, a resident of Kerala, said that he had gone to visit Jammu and Kashmir with 10 members of his family adding he too cut short the visit due to the attack.
“After the terrorist attack, it did not seem safe to stay there, so we returned from there after seven days. We had booked a hotel there and had also booked a return ticket on another train. The Army helped a lot there and the railways also provided relief to the passengers by running special trains,” he said.
Deepak Talajiya, a passenger from Maharashtra said that they had gone to Jammu and Kashmir with about 12 family members for a 12-day trip.
“After visiting Shri Mata Vaishno Devi in Katra, we were going to visit Pahalgam with the family but after the terrorist attack we cancelled our entire trip and returned after 2 days. Many tourists are stranded in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said while thanking the Railways for arranging the special train for the passengers.
A special reserved train number 04614 run by Northern Railway for the convenience of passengers left from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra station on Thursday, 24 April at 10:50 AM.
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