Trains were disrupted on Dhanbad Gaya Section of East Central Railway for over five hours after rebels engineered blasts on tracks on both Up and Down lines between Chaudharibandh and Chengro halts in Giridih late on Monday, some 60km from Dhanbad, on the first of their three-day Jharkhand-Bihar bandh call to protest the death sentence awarded recently to two rebels in the 2013 SP Amarjit Balihar murder.
The first blast erupted at 10.45pm in the Up line near pole 326-15/17. Two minutes later, the second blast erupted in the Down line near pole 325- 17/15.
No casualties occurred due to the timing. Ganga-Sutlej Express passengers had a providential escape as it had crossed the tracks 10 minutes before the Up line blast.
Train services were stopped immediately in the affected section. Some trains were diverted on other routes while others were stuck at different stations of Dhanbad railway division and resumed after tracks were restored at 4.45am on Tuesday morning.
Ganga-Damodar Express and Hatia-Patna Super Express were diverted on Dhanbad-Barakar-Chittaranjan-Jasidih line from the Dhanbad-Gomoh-Gaya line. Shipra Express was diverted on Dhanbad Gomoh Chandrapura section from Dhanbad Gomoh Gaya section.
Kalka Mail, Puri Anand Vihar Nandan Kanan Express, Jodhpur Howrah Express, Anand Vihar Puri Nandan Kanan Express were stranded at Dhanbad, Khanudih, Hazaribagh Road and Koderma stations, respectively, of Dhanbad division. They ran only after track repairs were over by 4.45am.
Senior commandant of Railway Protection Force of Dhanbad division Vinod Kumar said the two Monday blasts damaged 1 metre and a little less than 1 metre on Up and Down tracks, respectively. “But track repairs started promptly and train traffic normalised around 4.45am on Tuesday,” he said.
He added security on tracks had been beefed up. “We had deployed forces at strategic places ahead of this Maoist bandh but in view of this incident we have strengthened our vigil, coordinating with police stations,” he said.
On Tuesday, Dhanbad divisional railway manager Anil Kumar Mishra felicitated two trackmen Mubarak Hussain and Chandresh Kumar and assistant station master Raju Kumar at Chaudharibandh stations whose timely alert prevented any major accident.
Maoists burn 7 trucks
Maoists set seven trucks on fire in Lohardaga near bauxite mines at Bagdu, 20km from district headquarters under Kisko thana, on Tuesday afternoon. State police spokesperson and ADG (operations) R.K. Mallick said primary probe suggested it was not bandh-related violence but for levy.
