New Delhi: Suspension of night running of
trains in Kharagpur division of South Eastern Railway after
the Jnaneshawari train accident on May 28 is likely to
continue till the Railways are confident of security, a senior
Railway official Tuesday said.
"Once we are confident enough, we will immediately start
running of trains during night hours," Railway Board chairman
Vivek Sahai said.
Running of trains at night was suspended in the division
immediately after the May 28 mishap in which the hands of
Maoists are suspected. As many 150 people died in the mishap.
Sahai said the Railways were doing regular assessment of
the prevailing situation in the area in the wake of the train
accident near Jhargram in West Midnapore district of West
Bengal and are being provided with intelligence inputs on a
daily basis.
Railways had yesterday decided to extend for another four
days suspension of night operations between Kharagpur and
Tatanagar and Kharagpur and Adra. The suspension of train
movement from 10.00 pm to 5.00 am was initially meant to end today
morning.
However, Sahai made it clear that the suspension was not
applicable to goods trains and that they were plying normally
on those routes.
Services between Kharagpur and Tatanagar were suspended at
around 7.30 am today after a goods train driver raised an
alarm that he had heard an explosion like sound, which the
railways later ruled out after conducting a spot
investigation.
On June 9, services between Kharagpur and Tatanagar were
once again suspended after the Jhargram GRP alerted
authorities about a possible attack by the Maoists on the
Mumbai-Howrah Duranto Express.
Both South Eastern as well as East Coast Railway have
already either rescheduled or diverted several trains in view
of the suspensions on night operations.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, June 22, 2010, 17:46