New Delhi: Northern Railway on Monday cancelled nine trains passing through Rajasthan and diverted several others to different routes due to the ongoing violent agitation by the Gujjar community demanding Scheduled Tribe status.

The rail traffic in Rajasthan was badly affected for the third consecutive day with nine trains, mostly originating from Delhi, being cancelled in the interest of passengers' safety, a Railway official said.

The trains that have been cancelled are Nizamuddin-Mumbai August Kranti Express, Dehradun-Bandra Nimach Link Express, Nizamuddin-Udaipur Intercity Express, Nizamuddin-Indore Intercity Express, Amritsar-Mumbai Golden Temple Mail and Firozpur-Mumbai Janta Express.

Other cancelled trains are Nizamuddin-Kota Janshatabdi Express, Ahmedabad-Nizamuddin Gujarat Sampark Kranti and Nizamuddin-Bandra Sampark Kranti. The train services have been stopped due to the agitation by Gujjar Samaj Mahapanchayat Samiti and large-scale public disturbance between Gangapur City-Bayana section in Kota Division, a Northern Railway statement said.

The prime reason for suspension of traffic on this section was to prevent damage to railway property. "The situation has not improved. Railways' properties have been damaged at several places. Until calm is restored, it will not be possible to operate railway services in certain areas of Rajasthan," a senior Railway official said.

Train movement in other zones was also badly affected by the agitation with several trains being diverted to other routes. The diverted trains are New Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani Express, Amritsar-Bandra T Paschim Express, Jammu Tawi-Hapa Super Fast, Mumbai-New Delhi Rajdhani and Bandra T-Jammu Tawi Swaraj Express.

Source : IANS