Another Derailment Bid in UP? Passenger Train Hits 2-Foot Wooden Block On Kanpur Tracks

Lucknow: Amid a series of train derailment bids in the country, another suspected sabotage attempt has come to light in Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh after a passenger train hit a thick plank of wood placed on the tracks on Thursday night.

The incident comes weeks after an empty gas cylinder was found on the tracks near Prempur railway station in Kanpur, and 10 detonators were found on a railway track in an attempt to blow up a train carrying Army personnel in Madhya Pradesh's Burhanpur district.

In the latest incident, train No. 14236 Bareilly-Varanasi Express plying between Delhi and Lucknow hit the two-feet-long piece of wood weighing over 6 kg and dragged it for some distance. According to sources, it got wedged under the metal wheels, officials said. The train driver, or the loco pilot, managed to stop the train safely. The incident damaged a signaling device on the tracks, disrupting train operations on Lucknow-Hardoi up and down lines and led to loco pilots of other trains to operate with caution.

Another Derailment Bid? FIR Filed 

Meanwhile, a first information report (FIR) has been filed with the Malihabad police station in this regard. Soon after the matter came to light, the nearest railway station issued a warning to station masters, and sent an inspection team to the site. After putting in a lot of efforts, the inspection team and the loco pilot pulled out the wood. It is learnt that the incident disrupted railway traffic for two hours. 

Railway Protection Force personnel also rushed to the site to take stock of the situation. The central government has taken recent incidents of sabotage attempts on railway tracks very seriously, and tasked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to probe the cases.

Earlier in September, detonators were found on the tracks near Sagphata railway station in Madhya Pradesh as it targeted the army's special train travelling from Jammu and Kashmir to Karnataka. As the train passed over the detonators, the loco pilot became alert due to an explosion and promptly stopped the train. However, no injuries were reported in the incident.