Stones were thrown at the Swatantrata Senani Express in Bihar’s Samastipur district on Thursday night. The train was travelling from Jainagar to Delhi on the Muzaffarpur-Samastipur line when it was attacked, causing panic among the passengers and minor damage to the train.
Some passengers were injured but treated at a hospital in Samastipur, while windows of the pantry car and coaches next to it were shattered. Stones were also thrown at sleeper coaches.
Samastipur Railway Police have filed a case, against ‘unknown people’, and are trying to track down the attackers. It is unclear why stones were thrown.
The incident occurred at Samastipur Railway Station’s outer signal; the train stopped briefly at the station, at around 8.45 pm, before leaving for Muzaffarpur. But as soon as it reached the outer signal the stone-pelting began. The attacked delayed the train by 45 minutes.
There was an escort party of GRP, or Government Railway Police, personnel on board.
Incidentally, last week a major disaster involving this train – on the Delhi-Jainagar route – was narrowly averted after it hit a wooden block placed on the track near Rajdepur in Ghazipur. The block damaged part of the engine, forcing the train to be halted as a precaution.
A new engine had to be brought from Aurihar Railway Station. Reports indicate the train was delayed by nearly three hours. This happened early morning, around 3 am, local media said.
A police case has been filed.
There are also reports of stones being thrown at the Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani that was travelling on the same track, but ahead of the Swatantrata Senani Express.
This has not been confirmed as yet.
