RailEnquiry

KOLKATA: Fewer South Eastern Railway (SER) trains have been detained in West Bengal in 2012 due to agitations, rail rokos or bandhs as compared to Jharkhand and Odisha. However, the number of thefts on SER trains within the boundaries of the state has gone up from 73 in 2011 to 85 last year.the same can't be said of thefts on trains though. In 2012, the number of recorded thefts on SER trains was 193. Of these, 85 occurred within the boundaries of West Bengal.These issues among others were discussed at a high-level security meeting convened at the SER headquarters at Garden Reach on Wednesday.Apart from SER general manager A K Verma and other railway officers, those in charge of security in West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand were also present.So far as Maoist activity is concerned, security agencies in West Bengal reported a marked improvement in the situation with no specific information of a possible strike on passenger-carrying trains.Odisha officials, however, noted the presence of a 40-member armed squad of CPI (Maoist) cadres who are active along the SER route but there is no indication that they plan to carry out a strike on trains. "There have been 36 cases of drugging on trains in 2012 as compared to 56 in 2011. While three cases were recorded in West Bengal in 2011, five were reported in 2012. The number of recorded thefts came down from 202 in 2011 to 193 in 2012. West Bengal's share rose from 73 to 85 though. In 2012, the number of thefts recorded on trains passing through Odisha was 61. The Jharkhand railway police came up with a figure of 47. It is a positive development that the number of cases of detention of trains due to bandhs, rail rokos and agitations in West Bengal in 2012 came down to 18 from 29 in 2011. Odisha's share went up from 20 to 44 while Jharkhand kept its tally intact at 19," an official said.Increase in the speed of trains passing through Maoist-affected areas was an important matter that was addressed at the meet. A major issue that came up for discussion was the increase in the speed of trains passing through Maoist-affected parts.After the Jnaneswari Express disaster, night-running of passenger-carrying trains was stopped in some sections. the Chakradharpur-Rourkela, Kharagpur-Tatanagar and Midnapore-Adra sections.After nearly 18 months, night-running resumed but a speed restriction of 75 km per hour was imposed.In December, 2012 alone, 212 SER trains lost punctuality due to the speed restriction, Verma told the gathering, urging state agencies to allow trains to run at the speed of 110 km per hour along these stretches."West Bengal officials said that a final call will be taken by the state chief secretary. An official from Jharkhand said Maoists aren't too aware whether a train is moving at 75 km per hour or 110 km per hour. They will organize a strike if they so want and the damage will be nearly the same even if a train is running at 75 km per hour instead of its top speed of 110 km per hour.The prime requirement is to increase surveillance and intelligence gathering," the official added.