Close shave for Rajdhani Express
In yet another strike in Bihar, the Maoists triggered blast at a railway track late on Tuesday night between Ismailpur and Rafiganj section in Aurangabad district of the State. The blast later led to derailment of a pilot engine running ahead of the Bhubaneshwar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express. No casualty, though, was reported in the incident.
“The advance pilot engine running ahead of the Bhubaneshwar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express jumped off the track due to the blast,” said Arvind Kumar Rajak, Chief Public Relations Officer of East Central Railway (ECR).
He also said that nearly three meter of the rail track has been damaged in the blast. “Electric wire overhead has also been damaged”, he said.
The police officials said that the blast was powerful as it has created a four-feet deep crater at the place.
Due to the blast, nearly one dozen mail and express trains including three Rajdhani Express trains were stranded at various places between Gaya and Mughalsarai stations in the ECR section, Rajak said.
Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, Bhubaneshwar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, Sealdah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, Jodhpur-Howrah Express and Doon Express were among the major trains that were stranded at various places in between the two stations.
later, Ghulam Shah, the train driver said that he saw smoke and just after there was a blast at the track. “I tried to stop the train coming from that direction. Sealdah Rajdhani, Howrah Rajdhani and Bhubaneswar Rajdhani were behind it,” he said.
Earlier, the Maoists had given a one-day bandh call in protest of police firing in Aurangabad and Rohtas districts of the State. The Aurangabad firing was recently triggered during an anti-Naxal operation by CRPF in which two people, including a woman and a child were killed.
The twenty-four hour bandh call was given by Maoists from Tuesday midnight till Wednesday. The train movement, however, was later restored and trains started running on the track towards their destination.
The Rohtas firing was followed after two youths were killed in police firing when a mob protested against the alleged one-sided action after an exchange of objectionable MMS between two friends belonging to different communities.
later, the Magadh range DIG said that security has been tightened through deployment of additional forces to prevent untoward incidents during the bandh.
Recently, there was a similar blast on railway track allegedly by suspected Maoists near Goldengunj railway station in Saran district in which Rajdhani Express train was derailed. Three passengers were killed and several others were injured in the incident.
Though, both the State Government and the investigating officials had later denied any Maoists involvement in the incident. A few years ago the Rajdhani Express train had derailed at the same place in Rafiganj in which several passengers had died.