Railways may suspend night trains in Maoist-hit states

Railway minister Mamata Banerjee is mulling suspending night trains in five Maoist-affected states — Bihar, Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh.

A final decision will be taken after considering the implications of such a decision for railway operations and passenger safety. The file is with Mamata, who is camping in West Bengal in view of the civic polls in the state on May 30.

South-Eastern (S-E) Railway has already suspended night trains on two small tracks in Maoist strongholds. But in any case, less than a dozen trains operate in this area at night, sources said.

The sections are the 68-km Kharagpur-Adra and the 300-km Kharagpur-Rourkela. An S-E Railway official said, “Night operations — between 10 pm and 5 am — will remain suspended till June 1.”  

After Maoists derailed the Howrah-Mumbai Gyaneshwari Express on Friday, marking the beginning of a ‘Black Week’, the railway ministry doesn’t want to take chances.

Mamata is understood to have talked to Union home minister P Chidambaram in this regard. Chidambaram has also been talking to the CPM government in West Bengal, without whose help securing tracks in Maoist areas will not be possible. He also held a meeting with the army chief in this regard.

“A decision [on suspending night operations] will be taken soon,” a railway ministry official said.

It is, however, not clear whether both passenger and freight operations will be suspended. Asked how the plan will be implemented, the official said, “We are looking into that aspect. Scheduled changes ensuring trains do not pass through Maoist areas at night are likely.”

Another railway ministry official said, “We may operate more freight trains at night, so as to avoid passenger casualties in the event of an attack. Passenger train timings will be such that maximum distance will be covered in daytime.”

Meanwhile, nine trains from Kolkata were cancelled on Friday and another six rescheduled. The 2810 Howrah-Mumbai Express scheduled to depart on Friday will leave on Saturday morning.