Patna:
A bandh call by Naxals has hit train services in Bihar. Trains coming into and going out of the state were stopped at various places on Sunday night following threats to blow up tracks.
The Naxals have also blown up Satwahini railway station and abducted the station master. They have also burnt down two mobile phone towers in Aurangabad district.
East-Central Railways chief Public Relations Officer Dilip Kumar said a gateman told the station manager of Ismailpur that the Naxals had told him they have planted bombs on the tracks between Ismailpur and Rafigunj stations and threatened to blow up the tracks if movement of trains was not stopped forthwith.
Following this, ECR authorities stopped many trains, including Rajdhani Expresses, at various stations which caused disruption of rail traffic in the Gaya-Mughalsarai grand chord section of Mughalsarai division of the East Central Railway, Kumar said.
The Jodhpur-Howrah Express was stranded at Rafigunj, Doon Express at Dehri, Sasaram-Ranchi Express at Sasaram, New Delhi-Howrah Superfast Express at Kudra, Shipra Express at Saeed Raja and Patna-Dehri Intercity Express was detained at Gaya.
The Bhubaneswar Rajdhani, Sealdah Rajdhani and Ranchi Rajdhani were detained at different stations in Dhanbad division but their names were not being divulged for security reason.
Track movement on the Gaya-Mughalsarai grand chord section was back to normal at 4 am on Monday after security clearance.
Routes of several trains including Shaktipunj Express, Ranchi-Varanasi Express and Tata-Jammu Tawi Express were also changed following the threat.
Meanwhile in Jharkhand, a railway station, a block office and the panchayat bhavan were burnt down by the Naxals in Palamu district.
(With PTI Inputs)