RANCHI: To mark the ‘Bharat Bandh’ called to denounce their recent encounters with Indian security personnel, the CPI (Maoists) blew up railway track in West Singhbhum district in Jharkhand leading to the cancellation of over a dozen of trains on Mumbai-Howrah route, police said on Friday.
The incident took place late on Thursday night between Mahadevsal and Posoita stations, around 150 km from Ranchi, under the Chakradharpur division of South Eastern Railway. Notably, the banned outfit has been observing ‘protest week’ from December 16 and called for a ‘bandh’ on Friday.
Two sleepers under the railway track were completely damaged,” said West Singhbum SP Ashutosh Shekhar, adding that traffic remained disrupted till 9 am, he added. Officials said that at least 13 trains were cancelled and one was diverted on Mumbai-Howrah route. Four trains were also cancelled on Tata-Kharagpur route, they said.
“Only third line was damaged in the blast but due to security reasons, the traffic on the route was suspended during the night and restored in the morning,” said a railway official. The cancelled trains include Tata-Itwari Express and nine MEMU (mainline electric multiple unit) passengers.