Old al Qaeda threat sends Rlys into tizzy

A letter issued "inadvertently" by the Northern Railways quoting a month-old advisory about an intelligence input received by the CRPF on al Qaeda's plans to derail trains has sent senior railway officials in the capital into a tizzy.

The advisory issued in May had instructed the running staff to be alert against any sabotage, after an intelligence input from CRPF based on a year-old article on a website endorsed by the terror group spoke about ways to derail trains.

The Railways on Wednesday, however, clarified that that there was no need to panic as no new advisory been issued of any terror threat to the Indian Railways.

"The letter was inadvertently issued by a junior officer and it is a reiteration of an earlier advisory. In his over enthusiasm, he has reissued the letter. The present advisory is not relevant or valid. There is absolutely no threat to Indian Railways and there is no need to panic," R N Singh, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Delhi Division said.

"Action will be taken against the officer concerned," he said.

The second letter dated June 22 with subject line - 'Threat to derail Trains' -issued by the junior officer of NR has quoted from the earlier advisory and asked zones to train running staff, counsel them on how during running trains they should be specially alert. It also said that while operating on single section or double sections, they should keep an eye out for anomalies on both the tracks.