From the Archives (March 2, 1921): Riot at Howrah Railway Station

Calcutta, March 1: Further details of last evening’s riot at Howrah Station go to show that all local and main line train services were suspended for over six hours and traffic was disorganised for several hours causing great inconvenience to passengers. After a local passenger left Howrah at five and before she had proceeded half a mile the strikers bombarded the train with brick bats. The European driver and Indian fireman were hit and the train was stopped. Two European ladies and thirty Indian passengers were injured. The mob then attacked the power-house and the various cabin signal-boxes and points connected with the working of Howrah cabins and damaged them considerably. The strikers also set fire to the Ticcapara Railway gate which was practically destroyed. They cut telephone and telegraph wires and tore up part of the line on the Bengal Nagpur Railway. One pilotman who refused to stop work and was badly handled by the rioters is missing. A good many windows, lamps, etc. were broken but no material damage was done to rolling-stock or permanent way or cabins. On arrival the police force, two hundred Gurkhas and a contingent of the East Indian Railway Volunteer Corps the mob dispersed. Troops are guarding the line between Howrah and Uttarparah while the Howrah Station yard and its approaches are guarded by police and Volunteers. By 9-30, the situation was within hand.