Himachal rail line reopens after seven months

Shimla, March 31 (IANS) Rail traffic on the Pathankot-Jogindernagar narrow gauge line in Himachal Pradesh was restored Saturday after seven months of closure, a railway official said.

The rail traffic had been closed since August owing to washing away of the 84-year-old railway bridge on the Chakki rivulet due to flashfloods.

The traffic on the 165-km-long rail track from Pathankot to Jogindernagar was restored after the bridge's pillars were repaired and reconstructed, assistant divisional engineer (Northern Railways) M.K. Goel told IANS.

The bridge was initially constructed by the British in 1928 when the Sanan hydel project in Jogindernagar was set up. It is the only bridge connecting Pathankot and the picturesque Kangra Valley.

The Pathankot-Jogindernagar rail line was once proposed to be declared a UNESCO heritage site.