Dibrugarh Rajdhani passengers have close shave as track damage detected

Patna: Passengers of the New Delhi-Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express had a providential escape following timely detection of track damage between Mansi-Maheshkut stations, minutes before the train was to cross that stretch, Railway officials said on Thursday.

Though Railway police is investigating the issue from all angles including sabotage, East Central Railway (ECR) in its preliminary findings found gap in the track caused due to contraction because of the prevailing cold condition.

"As per our (Railway's) information, it was not sabotage bid...it could be the result of contraction of the track due to cold conditions," ECR Chief Public Relations Officer Arvind Kumar Rajak told PTI on Thursday.

He said that locals of Bakhtiyarpur village in Khagaria district had yesterday spotted the gap in a joint of the railway track on Mansi-Katihar rail section and informed the Railway officials at around 6:50 am.

Following this, the train was stopped at Mansi station for 32 minutes. The train was allowed to make its forward journey at 7:35 am on Wednesday after the damage in the track was rectified, he said.

The incident was taken seriously in view of the possibility of sabotage after the arrest of three ISI suspects from East Champaran district recently.

The Khagaria incident came close on the heels of explosion on the Railway track in Buxar on Monday last.

Arrest of three persons, who were working as agents of a Nepal-based ISI man Shamsul Hoda in connection with a foiled bid to trigger blast on the track near Ghorasahan in East

Champaran on October 1 last year has sent security personnel as well Railway into tizzy and they are meticulously probing all such incidents which are coming to light.

The interrogation of the ISI suspects had unravelled an ISI terror plot to target trains in India.