Kalimpong/Siliguri, June 23: A huge boulder blocked National Highway 31A and threw traffic out of gear for nearly five hours today when people from the hills rushed to Siliguri to replenish their stocks during the 60-hour relaxation in the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha-sponsored strike.

Traffic, except for army vehicles and ambulances, on the highways was almost nil during the shutdown.

Vehicles, mostly from Kalimpong and Sikkim, began to pile-up from morning after the boulder landed at Hatisuray, about 24km from Siliguri. Some of the drivers’ attempt to jump the queue also compounded the problem. By noon when The Telegraph reached the area, the queue of vehicles extended from near the Sevoke rail gate to Kalijhora, nearly 8km away. Normal traffic on one half of the road resumed around 4pm.

Since the line of stranded vehicles extended beyond the Coronation Bridge, Dooars-bound traffic on NH31 was also affected. “We have been stuck here for more than two hours,” said a driver of a Siliguri-Jaigaon bus.

National Highway 31 bifurcates into NH31A at the Coronation Bridge. However, the ones to suffer the most were passengers travelling on NH31A. “We have barely managed to move about a kilometre in the last two-and-half hours. By the looks of it we, probably, will have to halt for a night in Siliguri since it is already 2pm,” said Rupesh Lama, a trader from Gangtok.

Sources at the Border Roads Organisation, which maintains the highways, said only one-way traffic was possible on the Hatisuray stretch today. “We will blast the boulder tomorrow and restore the two-way movement of vehicles,” the sources added.

The Northeast Frontier Railways today announced the suspension of toy train services “until further notice” because of damages on the tracks caused by rain in several places.

“The protection wall between Rongtong and Tindharia has collapsed, which caused a landslide forcing the tracks to hang in the air,” Samir Goswami, the chief public relations officer of the NFR, said in a release. “Besides, a formation wall between Tindharia and Gayabari has also collapsed. Huge boulders have fallen on the tracks on stretches between Gayabari and Mahanadi and Mahanadi and Kurseong.”