Maoists blew up a railway track on the Grand Chord Section of the Howrah-New Delhi Railway line between Chichaki and Chaudharibandh station of Giridih district at around 12.34 am today, disrupting train services for several hours.

Teams from Saria and Bagodar police stations and with the railway team reached the site after receiving information, after which the track repair was resumed.

Though the track was declared fit at around 6.34 am this morning, altogether four trains were cancelled, five diverted and three others rescheduled.

The cancelled trains include Dhanbad Dehri On Sone Intercity Express (13305), Delhi On Sone Dhanbad Intercity Express (13306), Gaya Asansol MEMU Passenger Special (03546), Asansol Varanasi MEMU Passenger Special (03553). New Delhi Bhubaneshwar Rajdhani Express (22824) and Jharkhand Sampark Kranti Express (12826) were diverted on Mughalsarai (Deendayal Upadhyaya)-Patna-Jhajha and Koderma- Hazaribagh- Barkakana railway line respectively. This apart, Howrah Jodhpur Superfast Express (12307) was diverted on Jhajha- Patna- Deendayal Upadhyay (Mughalsarai) railway line. Netaji Express (12312) and Mumbai CSMT Howrah Mail (12322) were diverted on Gaya-Patna- Jhajha Railway line.

Dhanbad Patna Express (13329), Hatia Islampur Express (18624), Ranchi Mumbai LTT Weekly Express (18609) which were lying at Chaudharibangh and Parasnath stations respectively have resumed journey after the up and down tracks were declared fit for the journey.

Maoist posters lying at the incident site. Gautam Dey

As per the communiqué issued by the Public Relation officer of Dhanbad division of East Central Railway (ECR) PK Mishra, patrolmen Gaurav Raj and Rohit Kumar Singh informed the Station master of Chickhaki Railway station about the blast at around 12.34 am near Karmabad after which the train services of the section were stopped for security reasons.

Chief Public Relations officer of East Central Railway Rajesh Kumar said, “Though two other trains including Bhavnagar Terminus Asansol Express (12941) and Anandvihar Terminal Puri Express (12816) were diverted but were later restored on their original route after the situation normalized on track."

The blast was a part of a day-long bandh carried out by the CPI (Maoist) against the arrest of top leader Prashant Bose and his wife Sheela Marandi. The day-long bandh has been preceded with Resistance Day observed by the outlawed organization from January 21 to January 26 during which the Naxals blew up two mobile towers in Giridih District on the intervening night of January 21-January 22 and again blew up a bridge on January 22/23 night in the same district. They again blasted a mobile tower in the Kharki Area of Vishnugarh Block of Hazaribagh on January 26 morning and also hoisted black flags on January 25 in Dumri and Madhuban police station areas of Girdih district.