Additional Divisional Railways Manager R.S. Ghera said the decision had been taken after a weekend attack on Sopore railway station and would only be restored once the safety of railway staff and property could be ensured.
"The service is totally disrupted since Sopore station was set on fire and it is too early to say when it could be restored because at present we cannot even assess the damage due to the security situation," Ghera said.
He said a majority of the 1,500 railways staff in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley -- where more than 40 people have been killed since June in daily clashes between anti-India protesters and police -- were reluctant to report for duty.
"We cannot force them to return to work unless the state government gives an assurance on their safety," Ghera told AFP by telephone from Indian Railways regional headquarters in Ferozepur town in Punjab state.
Around 100 railways staff and their families have already left the region which has been under nearly constant curfew for the last two months.
The 120-kilometre (75-mile), 15-station train service links Baramulla town in the north of Indian Kashmir with Qazigund in the south.
It was personally flagged off by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in October 2008, who said it sent a message that Kashmir's future "should be socially, economically and politically bright."
The 20-billion-rupee (470-million-dollar) project was started in 2000 and involved thousands of engineers and labourers who had to contend with tough Himalayan weather and rugged terrain.
The death in early June of a teenage student -- killed by a police tear-gas shell -- sparked a series of violent protests in Indian Kashmir in which 44 people have been killed, 27 of them since Friday.
"First they damaged tracks, then a bridge and signalling system at Sopore and then a 10,000-strong mob told our employees not to report to work," Ghera said.
Source http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gmXojp2AYgiSq3kkx2ddw4BG__SQ
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