Fearing attacks, escort engines tag along trains to Jammu

Running pilot engines with Jammu-bound trains is a rarity. Escort engines were being run with some Jammu-bound trains around Independence Day. It is routinely done with trains bound for the North-east.

“We are not taking the intelligence reports lightly, specially after the Red Fort incident. Railway stations and tracks are anyway soft targets. They are open from all sides and access control is not easy,” said a senior railway official.

The Railway Protection Force (RPF), Railway Protection Security Force (RPSF), Government (state) Railway Police and local police are all on high alert. “Intensified track patrolling is being done round the clock. Efforts are being made to check each and every inch of the tracks,” the official said.

Security has also been tightened around the under construction Jammu-Udhampur line. “The line is being built at a great cost. Though only small stretches have been constructed, they are precious,” said the official.

Northern Railway Chief Public Relations Officer Chandralekha Mukherjee confirmed that security had been beefed up at railway stations and other installations. She said escort engines were run with the train only on the basis of intelligence reports from the local police, and not as a matter of routine.