Vande Bharat Express Damaged Again In Kerala Due To Stone Pelting, Third Incident In 3 Days

Indian Railways has suffered a loss of more than Rs 55 lakh due to damage caused by stone pelting on Vande Bharat Express trains since 2019.

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In yet another incident of stone pelting reported from Kerala, the semi-high speed Vande Bharat Express train of Indian Railways got damaged. The incident of stone pelting took place on Wednesday evening when some miscreants damaged one of the windows of the moving Vande Bharat express. Railway officials said the incident occurred when the Kasaragod-Thiruvananthapuram Vande Bharat Express was near Vatakara between 4 PM and 4.30 PM on Wednesday. This is the third such incident in the state in three days, after two trains were pelted with stones in the northern Kannur district.

The window of the C-8 coach of the train was damaged in the incident, officials said. "No one was injured in the incident. The glass was shattered from the outside," they said. On Sunday evening, stones were pelted on the Mangaluru-Chennai Superfast Express and Netravati Express when the trains reached a region between Kannur South and Valapattanam in the district. The windowpane of the AC coaches of both trains were found damaged, officials had said.

Earlier also a couple of incidents of stone pelting against the Vande Bharat express were reported from the state after the train was launched in Kerala by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April this year.

Just a couple of days back, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) arrested a man named Firoz Khan (20) for damaging the Bhopal-Delhi Vande Bharat Express in Madhya Pradesh's Morena district. A glass window of the Bhopal-Delhi Vande Bharat Express train was damaged after he threw stones at it in Morena district. 

Since 2019, the Railways has suffered a loss of more than Rs 55 lakh due to damage caused by stone pelting on Vande Bharat trains, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed Parliament recently. In a reply to a query in Lok Sabha, Vaishnaw said that in response to such incidents, 151 persons involved in stone pelting have been arrested.