M A I N   N E W S

Blast on Assam rail line

GUWAHATI, July 30 (PTI) — In pre-independence day violence in Assam, militants exploded a powerful bomb damaging a cement-laden goods train in Kamrup district early today shortly before five passenger trains were scheduled to cross, a North-Frontier Railway spokesman said.

However, no casualty was reported in the incident, which took place between Ghagrapar and Rangiya at 5.10 a.m., shortly before Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express, Guwahati-bound Avadh-Assam Mail and Chennai Mail, Kanchenjunga Express and a local passenger train were scheduled to cross.

The blast derailed the engine and 12 bogies of the goods train proceeding from Satna in Madhya Pradesh to Guwahati, the spokesman said, adding that the bogies were telescoped.

Two hundred metre track of the broadgauge line falling under Alipurduar division of North-Frontier railway was damaged under the impact of the blast, which left a 10-metre wide and five-metre deep crater at the site, he said.

As restoration of the damaged tracks would require about 20 hours, arrangements are being made to transport the passengers by trains and buses, he said.

Rajdhani Express along with some other trains would be rescheduled, he added.

Senior railway officials have rushed to the site from the North-Frontier railway headquarters here and Alipurduar division.

The police said the identity of the militants suspected to be behind the blast could not be immediately established as both the outlawed ULFA and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) were active in the area.

The Army and the police have rushed to the site and cordoned off the area and launched a massive search operation to track the culprits, the police said.

Militants in Assam had targeted trains when they exploded a bomb between Sungajan and Bokajan in central Assam on January 19 derailing a coal-laden goods train.

A Northern Frontier Railway release announced the cancellation and rescheduling of some trains as a sequel to the blast.

Rajdhani Express and Kamrup Express of today have been rescheduled at 10 a.m. and 10.30 a.m. respectively, tomorrow.

Today’s Avadh-Assam Express, Kanchenjunga Express (ex-Guwahati), Kamrup Express and Brahmaputra Mail (ex-Dibrugarh) have been cancelled, it said.

The North-East Express has been rescheduled at 11.30 a.m. Brahmaputra Mail at noon and Dadar Express at 4.30 p.m. tomorrow.

While tomorrow’s North-East Express stands cancelled, Rajdhani Express and Saraighat Express of tomorrow have been rescheduled on August 1.

“There may be further changes in train timings which will be intimated in due course,” the release said.