Blast derails Rajdhani Express

Six coaches and the engine of the Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express derailed following an explosion on the track between Guwagacha and Sarupeta stations in Assam at about 0735 hours on Monday.

The passengers had a miraculous escape with no casualties being reported. According to a railway spokesman, no one was injured in the accident.

"Had the bomb detonated even a couple of seconds later, the result would have been catastrophic with the superfast train taking the full impact of the same,'' a senior railway official said, inspecting the accident site.

The explosion took place when the train was just a few metres away from the spot, destroying the track. This lead to the derailment.

"We had just started stretching our legs and making ourselves comfortable when we heard the sound,'' said A K Malkani who was in the sixth coach. ''Before we realised what was happening, my luggage was falling down. But, thank god, it stopped within a couple of seconds."

The bomb was suspected to be planted by Bodo militants who, on the eve of the golden jubilee celebrations of the country's Independence, have launched a major operation to cripple the state's surface transport network.

In less than 24 hours, the Bodo militants exploded three powerful bombs on vital bridges on the national highways in three different places last week.

Pranode Saxena, a passenger on the Rajdhani, said he kept his fingers crossed till he reached New Jalpaiguri knowing that the Bodos were on the rampage. "But I regarded Bongaigaon-Fakiragram as the danger zone. Sarupeta was out of my mind," he admitted.

The Rajdhani's passengers are being brought back to Guwahati by a special metre gauge train. They will be sent to New Delhi on Tuesday by another train after the track is cleared.

Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan told the Lok Sabha that the safety train -- that runs ahead of the Rajdhani in troubled Assam -- had just passed when the explosion occurred.

On December 30, Bodo militants detonated a bomb on the railway track near Kokrajhar, killing 33 people on the New Delhi-bound Brahmaputra Mail.

UNI