Rajdhani Express Blast
Jawans to pilot trains, special forces for track security:
Guwahati/Calcutta, Dec 14: Jolted by the blast on Rajdhani Express, the Northeast Frontier Railway on Friday decided to revamp the existing security network on tracks across Assam with special emphasis on vulnerable stretches.
Henceforth, personnel of the Railway Protection Force and Railway Protection Special Force, the combat wing of the RPF, will move ahead of the trains to carry out checks.
Spokesman for the NF Railway, T. Rabha, said security on the railway tracks has been augmented to an “unprecedented level”.
Five persons were killed and four injured when a bomb exploded underneath one of the coaches of the Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express between Naojan and Chongajan railway stations at 1.06am on Thursday.
Though investigations are on to determine where and how the blast occurred, a senior North East Frontier Railway division official in Calcutta today said the bomb exploded in a luggage van, hinting at how security in the country’s most high-profile train was compromised to accommodate local passengers.
There are 20 pairs of Rajdhani Express trains running across the country but that particular train had a coach where unreserved passengers were crammed along with luggage like any other ordinary long-distance train.
“All Rajdhani Express trains have an exclusive luggage coach which is attached with the guard van and the generator cabs. But this train, running between Dibrugarh and Guwahati, had a luggage van where unreserved passengers boarded,” the official said. “With unreserved passengers and luggage there is a strong possibility of a bomb being planted on that van.”
According to sources, the Railway Board had sanctioned this extra luggage coach in the middle of 2006 in the face of “public demand”.
The usual component of a WLRRM coach — the term used for the luggage van of Rajdhani Express — has the guard’s cabin, generator cabin and luggage van. The two WLRRM coaches are attached at either end of the train. “The luggage is scanned thoroughly before it is loaded,” a railway official said.
However, on the Dibrugarh-Guwahati Rajdhani Express, along with these two WLRRM coaches, a third non-AC luggage van was attached. This coach, known as SLR, had the luggage cab and accommodation for passengers along with the guard’s cabin.
SLR luggage vans are used in ordinary mail and express trains to accommodate unreserved passengers and there is minimum or no security check for the luggage loaded there.
“This particular coach has 40 seats. Any passenger with an ordinary ticket can board the train with a hand luggage. It is difficult to check the passengers boarding this compartment,” the official said.
The coach is delinked in Guwahati.
Railway minister Lalu Prasad, who was in Calcutta today, said it was not yet clear whether the blast took place on the tracks or inside the luggage van. “The probe is on.” The minister said all luggage booked for loading in all Rajdhani Express would be scanned thoroughly at the booking point.
“We will supplement the already existing security being provided by the state government by deploying personnel of Railway Protection Force and Railway Protection Special Force before movement of any train,” Rabha said.
Mobile patrols will be carried out by RPF and RPSF on motor trolleys, goods train and other light engines.
At present, security of the tracks is being taken care of by the state government by deploying GRP and paramilitary forces.
“The government is already stretched and cannot do more,” a source said.
The forces will be deployed in the identified vulnerable tracks of the state and on major routes.
The advantage of mobile patrolling is that it covers greater distances within limited time.
Posted On: The Telegraph
Guwahati/Calcutta, Dec 14: Jolted by the blast on Rajdhani Express, the Northeast Frontier Railway on Friday decided to revamp the existing security network on tracks across Assam with special emphasis on vulnerable stretches.
Henceforth, personnel of the Railway Protection Force and Railway Protection Special Force, the combat wing of the RPF, will move ahead of the trains to carry out checks.
Spokesman for the NF Railway, T. Rabha, said security on the railway tracks has been augmented to an “unprecedented level”.
Five persons were killed and four injured when a bomb exploded underneath one of the coaches of the Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express between Naojan and Chongajan railway stations at 1.06am on Thursday.
Though investigations are on to determine where and how the blast occurred, a senior North East Frontier Railway division official in Calcutta today said the bomb exploded in a luggage van, hinting at how security in the country’s most high-profile train was compromised to accommodate local passengers.
There are 20 pairs of Rajdhani Express trains running across the country but that particular train had a coach where unreserved passengers were crammed along with luggage like any other ordinary long-distance train.
“All Rajdhani Express trains have an exclusive luggage coach which is attached with the guard van and the generator cabs. But this train, running between Dibrugarh and Guwahati, had a luggage van where unreserved passengers boarded,” the official said. “With unreserved passengers and luggage there is a strong possibility of a bomb being planted on that van.”
According to sources, the Railway Board had sanctioned this extra luggage coach in the middle of 2006 in the face of “public demand”.
The usual component of a WLRRM coach — the term used for the luggage van of Rajdhani Express — has the guard’s cabin, generator cabin and luggage van. The two WLRRM coaches are attached at either end of the train. “The luggage is scanned thoroughly before it is loaded,” a railway official said.
However, on the Dibrugarh-Guwahati Rajdhani Express, along with these two WLRRM coaches, a third non-AC luggage van was attached. This coach, known as SLR, had the luggage cab and accommodation for passengers along with the guard’s cabin.
SLR luggage vans are used in ordinary mail and express trains to accommodate unreserved passengers and there is minimum or no security check for the luggage loaded there.
“This particular coach has 40 seats. Any passenger with an ordinary ticket can board the train with a hand luggage. It is difficult to check the passengers boarding this compartment,” the official said.
The coach is delinked in Guwahati.
Railway minister Lalu Prasad, who was in Calcutta today, said it was not yet clear whether the blast took place on the tracks or inside the luggage van. “The probe is on.” The minister said all luggage booked for loading in all Rajdhani Express would be scanned thoroughly at the booking point.
“We will supplement the already existing security being provided by the state government by deploying personnel of Railway Protection Force and Railway Protection Special Force before movement of any train,” Rabha said.
Mobile patrols will be carried out by RPF and RPSF on motor trolleys, goods train and other light engines.
At present, security of the tracks is being taken care of by the state government by deploying GRP and paramilitary forces.
“The government is already stretched and cannot do more,” a source said.
The forces will be deployed in the identified vulnerable tracks of the state and on major routes.
The advantage of mobile patrolling is that it covers greater distances within limited time.
Posted On: The Telegraph