Gujarat: Rajdhani Express hits cement pole kept on tracks, escapes ‘derailment’ bid

The Valsad Police registered an offence under IPC Sections, 307 (attempt to murder), 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) , 114 and Railways Act 150 (Maliciously wrecking or attempting to wreck a train), 151 (Damage to the railway property), 152 (Maliciously hurting the persons travelling by train), and have instituted five teams to catch the culprit.

Friday evening, when the driver of the train felt they hit some object, the train was stopped a few metres away from the point of impact. Upon inspection, the loco pilots found a cement pole broken into pieces lying nearby. However, since the train was not affected, the driver continued the journey but informed Sharma.

As per the details mentioned in the police complaint, the incident took place on the down track at the end light of Atul Railway station in Valsad district. “Some notorious elements uprooted a cement pole barbed with wire from the nearby fencing area around 35 feet far from the tracks and placed it vertically on the down railway track used by the trains going to Ahmedabad from Mumbai,” the complaint mentioned.

The Valsad railway police and city police officials reached the spot Friday evening and while the technical team examined the tracks, the August Kranti Rajdhani Express train (Mumbai to Delhi) was kept on halt for 5 minutes. All other scheduled trains traveling behind the Rajdhani train were put on halt for around seven minutes, said an official at the Valsad station.

Sharma said, “The fencing was done a year ago to prevent the entry of grazing cattle on the tracks. The work on another track for the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India is in progress and several labourers are involved in the work. The scheduled time for the Rajdhani Express to pass Valsad railway station was 7:10 pm and prior to it, a goods train passed on the same track at 6:47 pm. We talked to the goods train driver and he told us that his train passed safely on the tracks.”

Valsad District Superintendent of police Dr Rajdeep Sinh Zala said, “We have taken the incident seriously and have examined the location where the incident took place. At present, it is difficult to say anything about the incident. We will also question the contractor and labourers working in the nearby area.”