HYDERABAD: An explosion damaged a railway track in Rajasthan's Sri Ganganagar district late on Tuesday (November 03), leaving two concrete blocks supporting the track broken and few railway sleepers. A crater about two feet deep was also found beneath the railway line, prompting authorities to suspend passenger services on the Suratgarh-Anupgarh route.
The blast occurred near 50 GB village, under Ramsinghpur police station limits, about 45 minutes after a passenger train from Anupgarh to Suratgarh had passed through the stretch at around 9 pm, police said. No casualties were reported. Villagers living about 200 metres away heard the sound and rushed to the track.
Teams of the Anti-Terrorism Squad, the Criminal Investigation Department, the dog squad, the Forensic Science Laboratory, the Bomb Disposal Squad, the RPF and railway officials reached the spot, some of them around 2 am, and samples were being collected.
Sri Ganganagar Superintendent of Police Harishankar said the nature of the blast could not yet be established. "It would be premature to conclude whether it was an explosion or something else," he said, adding that there was no established link with 7.5 kg of RDX recovered recently in the border region.
North Western Railway suspended the Suratgarh-Anupgarh and Anupgarh-Suratgarh services for the day. Investigators are examining whether the track was deliberately targeted, given its proximity to the India-Pakistan border.
(With inputs from PTI and media reports)