General Railway Police personnel opened fire when robbers struck at the Chennai-Hyderabad express between Surareddypalem and Tangutur in Prakasam district in the early hours of Thursday.
The offenders put a few one rupee coins at the spot, where two railway tracks joined, near an automatic traffic signalling system which immediately flashed red light, forcing the train driver to stop the train. They snatched away a gold chain from one of the woman passengers, GRP Deputy Superintendent of Police S.M. Ramesh Babu said.
As the passengers screamed for help, the personnel got down from the train and opened one round of fire before the offenders made good their escape under the cover of darkness, the DSP said. The offenders also made an unsuccessful attempt to rob the passengers travelling by the Tirupati-Visakhapatnam express, the DSP added.
On a complaint from the woman, K.V. Saraswathi who lost the gold chain weighing 24 grams, GRP registered a case.
