Train services in Bihar go haywire after Maoist threat

ECR chief Public Relations Officer Dilip Kumar said a gateman told the station manager of Ismailpur that Maoists had told him they have planted bombs on the tracks between Ismailpur and Rafigunj stations and threatened to blow up the tracks if movement of trains was not stopped forthwith.

Following this, the ECR authorities stopped many trains, including Rajdhani Expresses, at various stations which caused disruption of rail traffic in the Gaya-Mughalsarai grand chord section of Mughalsarai division of the East Central Railway, Kumar said.|

The Jodhpur-Howrah Express was stranded at Rafigunj, Doon Express at Dehri, Sasaram-Ranchi Express at Sasaram, New Delhi-Howrah Superfast Express at Kudra, Shipra Express at Saeed Raja and Patna-Dehri Intercity Express was detained at Gaya.

The Bhubaneswar Rajdhani, Sealdah Rajdhani and Ranchi Rajdhani were detained at different stations in Dhanbad division but their names were not being divulged for security reason, he said."We plan to allow resumption of normal traffic only after security clearance tomorrow," Kumar said.

Routes of several trains including Shaktipunj Express, Ranchi-Varanasi Express and Tata-Jammu Tawi Express were also changed following the threat, he said.