Normal train services to Rajasthan soon

New Delhi, June 4 (UNI) The Railway Ministry today said normal rail services to Rajasthan would be restored at the earliest following the calling off the agitation by Gujjars demanding ST status for their community.

Normal train services to the border state would be restored in the affected phases at the earliest, a Railway ministry official informed this evening, adding that the decision was taken at a high-level meeting of Railway Board officials.

''We have decided to restore train services at the earliest, albeit in stages,'' said the official.

Railway officials had been continuously monitoring the situation in various stages of the agitation that disrupted train services to Rajasthan following the Gujjar agitation there.

Meanwhile, earlier in the day, the Railways had announced cancellation, rescheduling and diversion of ten long-distance trains, including Rajdhanis and Shatabdis passing through Rajasthan, even as train movement in and around the national capital was severely hampered in the wake of today's day-long 'Delhi bandh'.

Among the cancelled trains were Ajmer-New Delhi Shatabdi Express, Jaipur-Bandra Express, Jodhpur-Delhi Express, Jaipur-Amritsar Express, Jaipur-Gwalior Express, New Delhi-Ajmer Shatabdi Exp and Bareilly-New Bhuj Express.

The two partially cancelled trains were Sawaimadhopur-Jodhpur Exp (cancelled between Sawaimadhopur and Jaipur) and Jammu Tawi-Jaipur Exp (cancelled between Delhi and Jaipur).

Owing to the agitation in Delhi and its neighbouring regions, three other trains -- Delhi-Jodhpur Express, New Delhi-Ahmedabad Rajdhani Exp and Delhi Sarai Rohilla- Porbander Express -- were diverted along with the Bandra-Jodhpur Exp, Mumbai Central-Ajmer Express, Ahmedabad-Haridwar Express and Ahmedabad-Puri Express.

UNI