The railways have announced the running of eight trains on Wednesday and Thursday which will connect north Bengal and Northeast with Calcutta, but simultaneously said 42 other trains will remain cancelled at least till Thursday.

North Bengal development minister and Trinamul Congress leader Rabindranath Ghosh questioned the railways’ decision to cancel many trains.

The train services were suspended following destruction of railway properties in violent protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

“After improvement in law and order and introduction of manual train operation (non-interlocking) in the affected areas of Bengal, the NFR (Northeast Frontier Railway) has decided to restore few long distance trains to mitigate the problems of stranded passengers,” said S. Chanda, the chief public relations officer of the NFR.

The trains which have been restored include Darjeeling Mail, NJP-Howrah Shatabdi Express, Uttarbanga Express and Calcutta-Jogbani Express.

Ghosh wanted to know why the railways were delaying the resumption of all services.

“It is true that some stations were damaged. But surprisingly, the railways are taking so much time to resume all train services. We have seen how quickly the railways act and restore services in case of an accident or derailment. The trains might be delayed for some hours because of manual operation in some areas but at least people can avail themselves of the services. The BJP government at the Centre is harassing people in every way — by halting train services or by introducing the CAA,” said the minister.

Yatendra Kumar, the Malda divisional railway manager of the Eastern Railway, said on Wednesday that train services in the New Farakka-Azimganj section — one of the routes through which a number of trains move to Calcutta from north Bengal and Northeast — may not resume in seven days.

Trains like Malda-Howrah Intercity Express, Teesta-Torsa Express and Kamrup Express run on this route.

Kumar, who visited some of the affected stations like Dhuliyan Ganga, Nimtita and Tildanga on Tuesday, said: “Railway properties worth around Rs 45 crore were damaged in the Malda division. Panel rooms were vandalised, which has led to collapse in the automatic signalling system. Restoration works have begun but it seems trains can be run on the route only after a week or so.”

This means, trains connecting north Bengal will ply along the New Farakka-Sainthia-Bolpur Santiniketan-Burdwan route in the next four days.

Mausam Benazir Noor, the Malda district Trinamul chief, said: “The delay in repairs has left us suspecting the intention of railway authorities. Railway is an emergency service and they should have taken up repairs on a war footing.”

“Three-four days have passed after stations were damaged and yet, no noticeable move has been seen on the part of the railways.”