Rail traffic were disrupted for about five hours on Wednesday in parts of Chakradharpur division of South Eastern Railway as villagers led by a BJP MLA put up a blockade demanding stoppage of passenger trains at Ghagra in West Singhbhum district, railway sources said. Hundreds of villagers led by the MLA, Gurucharan Nayak, squatted on the track at Ghagra between Posaita and Manoharpur stations from 06.45am and lifted the blockade at 11.20am after the railway authorities assured them to look into the demand.

Several long distance trains including up and down Ahmedabad-Howrah Express, Howah-Sambalpur Ispat Express, Puri-Haridwar Utkal Express, Durg-Danapur Express and Tata-Bilaspur Express were stranded at various stations due to the blockade, the sources said.

The railways forwarded the feasibility report in this regard to the higher authorities and intimated this to the BJP MLA in writing, following which the blockade was lifted.

Nayak threatened to launch to launch indefinite blockade if the railways failed to keep the promise to take a decision in this regard within a month.

Railway sources said the rail traffic on the main Howrah-Mumbai route was restored after the blockade was lifted.