Title - Maoists remove rails at Jagdalpur, Kirandul section

Suspected Maoists removed rails from the tracks between Jagdalpur and Kirandul section in neighbouring Chhattisgarh leaving train services affected in both the States on Sunday.

The incident came a day after the Red rebels ambushed a team of Congress leaders near Jagdalpur that left at least 27 persons dead.

The East Coast Railway officials rushed a team to carry out emergency repair work, which was completed by noon and services were resumed.

Train movement was disrupted along Jagdalpur-Kirandul Rail section of Kottavalasa-Kirandul line under East Coast Railway jurisdiction after four pieces of rails were found removed from the line between Dantewara and Kamlur stations. That was not all. Overhead electricity line were also found stolen on Saturday mid-night.

As soon as the matter came to light, the ECoR cancelled the Visakhapatnam-Kirandul-Visakhapatnam passenger from both the directions between Jagdalpur and Kirandul. Freight trains were also detained en route at different stations on Kottavalasa-Kirandul line.

In fact, since the CPI(Maoist) had given a call for Martyrs’ Week, the ECoR had stopped plying passenger trains along the route for the last two days. With the plates found removed, it immediately pressed its team on job and machinery into operations. Hectic repair work was undertaken for restoration of track.

The railway track between Bacheli and Bhanshi were repaired by 8.10 am, while work between Kamlur and Dantewara was completed by 8.20 am. The section between Bhanshi and Kamlur was ready for service at 10.35 am. Similarly, the overhead electricity line was repaired by noon.

Following the incident, the ECoR has asked for a close monitoring of status of tracks in areas which are in the Maoist stronghold regions.