On a day the red rebels gave a 24-hour bandh call, suspected Maoists blew up the railway track between Dania and Jageshwar railway stations on the CIC section, about 60 km from Bokaro headquarter, at noon on Monday. However, the Gomoh–Barwadih passenger train had a narrow escape.
Railway sources said the explosion, which occurred around 11:45 am when 53347Up, Gomoh– Barwadih passenger train just arrived at the Jageshwar Bihar railway station, damaged the interlocking panel of the track disrupting rail traffic in the section. There is no report of any casualty though.
Following the blast, the Maoists dropped posters near the blast site which said that the outlawed outfit had given a call for Jharkhand bandh on Monday to protest the arrest of its leader recently.
Rail police as well as local State police and railway officials are complaining at the site of the incident, sources said .The track of the single line service was fully affected .There is however ,no loss of life .
The impact of the blast was quite severe, about two meters of the track got twisted and bumped up five feet .The OHE too got damaged, leading to the stranding of both Up &Dn passenger trains at Gomia and Dania. The Barkakana railway authorities came to learn only after three hours from the incident. Railway sources say repairs are on.
But traffic had been restored late this evening
Though the bandh more or less passed off peacefully, the rebel felt by causing damaged to the railway track here. Rural markets remained shut while long-distance buses and dumpers stayed off –road across the district.
Many private schools, Banks, Post offices, were shut down or recorded low attendance fearing untoward incidents.