Train services between Kharagpur and Jamshedpur were disrupted for two hours on Tuesday after the driver and guard of a goods train reported that they heard a sound of a blast when the train was passing through the Maoist affected area in West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district. However, no evidence of sabotage on the tracks was found.
Authorities were alarmed as the place where the blast-like sound was heard, is not too far from the site where the Jnaneswari Express was derailed on May 28, killing 150 people .
According to a press release from South Eastern Railway, the goods train was running between Gidhni and Khatkura stations at about 7:30 in the morning when the driver and the guard alerted the authorities that they had heard the sound of a blast. Services between Gidhni and Jhargram stations were immediately suspended and the concerned security agencies including Government Railway Police (GRP), Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the State police were informed.
A thorough search of the tracks by security forces and the Railway's track maintenance staff was conducted, but nothing was found. Several passenger trains were detained and search operations were being conducted.
Train services in the region have been affected since the derailment of Jnaneswari Express as the running of passenger trains between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. in the Maoist affected has been suspended. While the night-running of passenger trains was to have resumed on Tuesday, it has been pushed back to June 26.
