The South Central Railway (SCR) has sounded a red alert across the zone in view of the blast on board the Bengaluru-Guwahati Express.
SCR General Manager, P.K. Srivastava said it was standard operating procedure to undertake a security drive on all trains originating from the zone. “We learn from incidents happening in other zones and we have increased surveillance. For example, the Chennai blast took place when the train was at the station, so we will take additional precautions when trains halt at important stations in the Zone,” he said.
Train movement was not affected, he said, pointing out that the Hyderabad-Chennai Express reached Chennai Central on Thursday morning 15 minutes late and the Charminar Express too arrived almost on time.
Chief Security Commissioner R. Pacharwal said he had instructed the six Divisional Security Commissioners (DSC) in the zone to take precautionary measures. He also wrote to the Additional Director-General of Police Bhoobathi Babu (Railways) and V.S.K. Kaumudi (Law & Order) seeking additional force to step up vigil at important stations including Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Kacheguda, Tirupati, Guntakal, Vijayawada, Guntur and Warangal.
Following the anti-sabotage checks, a bag containing crackers that was found on the outside entrance of the ComSum restaurant on Platform 1 at Vijayawada station was initially feared to contain country-made bombs.
