3 attempts to derail trains in past one week, says Railways

NEW DELHI: Three attempts to derail trains and two instances of pelting of stones in past week point to criminal intent of miscreants, railway ministry officials said highlighting how the "wave" of incidents has become a major cause of concern.

They added that the collision of a train Sunday evening with a cooking cylinder kept on the tracks in Kanpur did not result in any major mishap as the loco pilot applied emergency brakes in time. Officials said police discovered petrol and matches at the scene, indicating criminal intention. Recently, Pakistan-based terrorist Farhatullah Ghori had released a video on Telegram exhorting his followers to orchestrate large-scale train derailments and urged them to "target the supply chain to cripple their infrastructure".

Since June last year, there have been at least 17 instances when either locomotive pilots or railway staff have detected pieces of wood between crossing rail, stones on rail line, signal tampering, and gas cylinders placed on tracks that are potential hazards. There have also been other instances of unauthorised use of tracks by social media influencers.

While RPF have filed cases, carried out investigation and also apprehended some of the miscreants, sources said there is increased focus on checking tracks passing through identified sensitive areas. "It's a tough task, but every effort is being made to avoid any mishap," said a railway official. In some cases, juveniles have been apprehended.

Sharing details of the recent incidents, sources said on Sept 5, a potentially catastrophic accident was avoided narrowly near Kurduwadi station in Solapur when a fouling mark slab was deliberately placed on the tracks near a signal point. "The alert loco pilot could stop the train in time and this is being probed," said an official.

Similarly, on Aug 23, Sabarmati-Jodhpur Vande Bharat hit a stone placed on track. Three days before that, a goods train collided with a motorbike rim on the Dedicated Freight Corridor. On Aug 18, half a dozen iron rods placed on a railway track collided with the engine of a passenger train in Jabalpur. The official said that besides placing foreign objects on tracks, there have been instances of stone pelting on trains, particularly on the Vande Bharat Express trains.


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