Another ‘sabotage’ bid? Iron pole found placed on rly track near Rampur

A train accident was averted due to the alertness of a loco pilot who applied the emergency brake after spotting a seven-feet iron pole placed horizontally on the track in Rampur when the Doon Express was to pass through the same track as officials suspected it could be another act of sabotage.

Confirming the incident, Rampur superintendent of police (SP) Vidya Sagar Mishra said the police were alerted by the loco pilot at around 10.15 pm on Wednesday (September 18) after which teams of Rampur district police and government railway police (GRP) reached the spot.

He said the iron pole was placed horizontally on the track behind Balwant Enclave Colony apparently to derail the train.

“We are assisting the GRP Rampur team in tracing the suspects involved in the incident. An FIR has been registered with the GRP police station at Rampur railway station,” he added.

GRP superintendent of police (SP), Moradabad division, Ashutosh Shukla said the FIR against unidentified people had been lodged and further probe was going on.

Another police official privy to the development said involvement of some drug addicts, who keep loitering around the railway track daily, was suspected. He said three people had been taken into custody for interrogation on the basis of suspicion.

Similar incidents in past one month

Sep 16: Swatantrata Senani Express, which left from Bihar’s Jaynagar to Delhi, suffered an engine breakdown after it collided with a two-feet long wooden block that was allegedly deliberately placed on the railway track between Ghazipur city station and Ghat station of Varanasi.

Sep 10: Stone pieces (ballasts and rubble) on a three-metre stretch of a railway track was placed between Ghazipur city and Ghat stations. On September 13, three people were arrested and confessed that they placed the obstruction on the track for fun.

Sep 8: A major accident was averted after the Prayagraj-Bhiwani Kalindi Express collided with an LPG cylinder placed on the tracks at Shivrajpur in Kanpur.

Aug 23: A major train accident was averted in Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh, due to the alertness of the loco pilot when Kasganj-Farrukhabad train was stopped after hitting a wooden block.

Aug 16: As many as 22 coaches of the Varanasi-Ahmedabad Sabarmati Express derailed, also near Kanpur, after the engine hit an ‘object,’ described by the loco pilot as a boulder.