The incident took place at 11.45 pm near Paraiyya station, shortly after the train left Gaya junction at 11.32 pm. There was no casualty. However, some passengers were injured. They were given first aid after a medical relief train arrived from Mughalsarai.
According to Dilip Kumar, Chief Public Relation Officer of East Central Railways, a special train ferried the affected passengers from Gaya to Mughalsarai, from where they resumed their onward journey to Delhi.
Train movement on the Howrah-Delhi route, via Gaya, has been badly affected. While three trains, including Patna-Ranchi Janshatabdi, were cancelled, routes of 17 other trains were changed owing to the damage caused to the tracks.
Meanwhile, train travellers from Orissa have strongly criticised the railway authorities for not providing adequate security to the Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express.
The high-speed train had already been targeted by the naxalites in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar more than once. It was hijacked by armed naxalites in West Bengal last year.
“At least they could have provided a pilot train when the Rajdhani was passing through the Gaya division. Gaya district, as we all know, is a highly naxal-infested area,” said Pradip Sahu, a local businessman.
Sources in the East Coast Railways said an emergency meeting of the Railway Boardwill be held in New Delhi to discuss safety of trains passing through the naxal-infested states.
The blow up bid comes in the backdrop of the 48-hour bundh call given by the Maoists in Bihar, Bengal, Orissa and Jharkhand to protest against the Centre’s “Operation Green Hunt.”
Meanwhile, Railway minister Mamata Banerjee urged the governments of the Maoist-infested states to initiate action urgently to protect the lives of railway commuters and property.
“After Sunday’s aborted attempt on the Bhubaneswar-Delhi Rajdhani Express, I can't afford to play with the lives of the passengers. Their lives are more important than the money meant for the railway coffers,” the rail minister told reporters here. “That was a narrow escape; it could have been dangerous” an irate Banerjee said.