In yet another stone pelting incident on train, two bogies of the high-profile Vande Bharat Express suffered damage in Gujarat.
Coaches C4 and C5 of Ahmedabad-Jamnagar Vande Bharat Express were left with their window panes broken near Rajkot at night. Incidentally, Gujarat minister of state for home Harsh Sanghavi was travelling on the same train.
According to railway officials, some miscreants pelted stones on the train around 9 pm between Bileswhar station and Rajkot junction, about 4km before Rajkot.
Security commissioner of Rajkot division of Western Railway Pawan Kumar Shrivastava said, “Sanghavi was on the train with other passengers. The glasses of the train were damaged but fortunately no passenger was hurt.” He did not divulge in which coach the minister was travelling.
Shrivastava said they believed dwellers of nearby huts might be involved in the stone pelting.
Security commissioner of Rajkot division of Western Railway Pawan Kumar Shrivastava said, “We have started an awareness campaign asking people not to damage public property,” he told media persons.
Western Railway in a statement said, “Soon after the incident, RPF assistant subinspector Narendra Gautam with other staff rushed to the spot and searched the area and recorded the statements of people. The TTE told police that they did not see anybody pelting stones.”
Senior railway officials visited the spot. Later, RPF (railway protection force) registered a case against unknown persons and started an inquiry. According to railway officials, there is a fibre sheet between two layers of glass windows so there is no chance that the stones could hurt the passengers. After the incident, the train proceeded towards Jamnagar and returned to Ahmedabad. The maintenance of the train was to be done at Ahmedabad.
According to Railway Board guidelines, officials are training the RPF personnel who were escorting Vande Bharat trains. RPF personnel have been deployed in plain clothes to apprehend miscreants and they are also patrolling in vulnerable locations.
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