<p>The bomb blast between Mundiyampakkam and Perani stations around 2.15 am on Saturday, about 15 km from Villupuram junction in Southern Railway’s Chennai Egmore-Villupuram section, knocked off a portion of the track.<br /><br />It was minutes before the Tiruchirappalli-Chennai Rock Fort Express was brought to a halt, barely 20-50 metres ahead of the blast spot. <br /><br />Sources told Deccan Herald over phone from Villipuram that another Chennai-bound train from Salem (a link train from Bangalore) had only shortly passed that stretch. <br /><br />The powerful blast, which the police suspect was triggered by “a mixture of TNT and gelatin sticks”, had cut off the track to a near one metre length and left a roughly 1.5-metre-deep crater at that place, and was sufficient to cause a major derailment, particularly of a superfast train like the Rock Fort Express. Wire pieces were also found near the spot. <br /><br />Sekaran, driver of the train from Salem and its guard, on passing that stretch felt the rails wobbling. They immediately alerted the station master of nearby Perani, police said.The station master alerted all nearby stations and the Rock Fort Express was asked to slow down, sources said. <br /><br />No signals<br /><br />With no signals available, the train driver quickly decelerated and brought it to a screeching halt only to find that the track ahead had been blown up. <br /><br />Top district police and railway officials, besides bomb disposal experts, rushed to the spot and all Chennai-bound trains were stopped at different places en route. <br /><br />Saturday’s episode was reminiscent of the March 15, 1987 tragedy, when the same train, bound for Tiruchirappalli, was derailed after a Tamil extremist group blasted the Marudaiyar river bridge near Ariyalur, killing over 100 passengers. <br /><br />Even as a team of engineers rushed from Chennai to fix the track, incoming and outgoing trains were delayed by nearly six hours. The track was restored for traffic by 9 am, sources said, adding, some of the trains leaving Chennai on Saturday evening, including the Ananthapuri Express to Thiruvananthapuram, had been rescheduled. <br /><br />Police later recovered a hand-written pamphlet in Tamil from near the accident spot, attributing its authorship to Prabhakaran Thambigal (slain LTTE leader Prabhakaran’s younger brothers). <br /><br />“Can Tamils be silent any more?” the pamphlet pointedly asks. The pamphlet condemned the Indian government for rolling out a red carpet to the “blood-thirsty wolf”, (Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa) who is responsible for “annihilating the Tamil race”. <br /><br />Police have rounded up some suspects and are quizzing them, but no arrests have been made till Saturday evening. The case has been transferred to the Q-Branch police. <br /></p>
<p>The bomb blast between Mundiyampakkam and Perani stations around 2.15 am on Saturday, about 15 km from Villupuram junction in Southern Railway’s Chennai Egmore-Villupuram section, knocked off a portion of the track.<br /><br />It was minutes before the Tiruchirappalli-Chennai Rock Fort Express was brought to a halt, barely 20-50 metres ahead of the blast spot. <br /><br />Sources told Deccan Herald over phone from Villipuram that another Chennai-bound train from Salem (a link train from Bangalore) had only shortly passed that stretch. <br /><br />The powerful blast, which the police suspect was triggered by “a mixture of TNT and gelatin sticks”, had cut off the track to a near one metre length and left a roughly 1.5-metre-deep crater at that place, and was sufficient to cause a major derailment, particularly of a superfast train like the Rock Fort Express. Wire pieces were also found near the spot. <br /><br />Sekaran, driver of the train from Salem and its guard, on passing that stretch felt the rails wobbling. They immediately alerted the station master of nearby Perani, police said.The station master alerted all nearby stations and the Rock Fort Express was asked to slow down, sources said. <br /><br />No signals<br /><br />With no signals available, the train driver quickly decelerated and brought it to a screeching halt only to find that the track ahead had been blown up. <br /><br />Top district police and railway officials, besides bomb disposal experts, rushed to the spot and all Chennai-bound trains were stopped at different places en route. <br /><br />Saturday’s episode was reminiscent of the March 15, 1987 tragedy, when the same train, bound for Tiruchirappalli, was derailed after a Tamil extremist group blasted the Marudaiyar river bridge near Ariyalur, killing over 100 passengers. <br /><br />Even as a team of engineers rushed from Chennai to fix the track, incoming and outgoing trains were delayed by nearly six hours. The track was restored for traffic by 9 am, sources said, adding, some of the trains leaving Chennai on Saturday evening, including the Ananthapuri Express to Thiruvananthapuram, had been rescheduled. <br /><br />Police later recovered a hand-written pamphlet in Tamil from near the accident spot, attributing its authorship to Prabhakaran Thambigal (slain LTTE leader Prabhakaran’s younger brothers). <br /><br />“Can Tamils be silent any more?” the pamphlet pointedly asks. The pamphlet condemned the Indian government for rolling out a red carpet to the “blood-thirsty wolf”, (Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa) who is responsible for “annihilating the Tamil race”. <br /><br />Police have rounded up some suspects and are quizzing them, but no arrests have been made till Saturday evening. The case has been transferred to the Q-Branch police. <br /></p>
