In a suspected sabotage attempt, unidentified miscreants placed a six-metre-long steel rod across the railway track at Kundayithodu, near Cheruvannur, on Sunday morning. The train derailment attempt was, however, foiled by trackmen during track inspection. They removed the rod and handed it over to the police for more investigation.
It was second such attempt which was averted from the same region. In the last incident, the track was drilled by anonymous persons with an intention to make slow cracks and thus derail the trains. However, it had been traced on time during track inspection.
Police officials said the recovered iron road had stands on both the edges to fix it steady across the track. “It was made with a clear intention to obstruct the track as we saw in the previous incident. However, we are yet to get any clue on who made the pipe and fixed on the track,” they said.
Along with the local police inquiry led by Nallalam Circle Inspector, the security wing of the Railways too would be probing the incident. Senior police officers reached the spot as part of collecting more evidences leading to the suspected persons. They collected statements from some of the local residents.
It was on May 24, 2014 that the first incident to damage the track was reported from Kundayithodu. Around 32 holes had been drilled on the track to derail the train. However, the long months of inquiry into the case hardly succeeded in locating the culprits. Following the incident, the Railways directed trackmen to be vigilant in all spots and tighten checking.
