Railways withdraw order cancelling trains despite Maoist threat

Railway authorities Sunday withdrew their decision to cancel 28 passenger trains for a week in Bihar and Jharkhand in view of a Maoist threat after police assured full security, officials said.

"The East Central Railway, which had cancelled 28 passenger trains under its five divisions in view of Maoist threat, has withdrawn its order," a railway official said.

All the trains would run normally on their scheduled time over the next one week, despite the Maoists threat.

"After top railway ministry officials in Delhi and state police officials questioned the decision to cancel trains due to Maoists threat, the order was reviewed and withdrawn," official said.

Additional Director General, Rail, K.S. Dwivedi said the state police should have been consulted before taking such decision to cancel trains.

"The state police headquarters has alerted all the district police and rail police," ADG (HQ) Gupteshwar Pandey said.

According to police officials, Maoists have announced they would celebrate their foundation day sometime between Sep 21-30. During their celebration, they may strike soft targets like trains.

Security has been tightened across Bihar following an intelligence report that Maoists are likely to target trains.

However, ECR officials said it was decided to run an engine ahead of the Rajdhani Express trains passing through the state.

Besides, special security deployment would be made on rail bridges and tracks.

Railway authorities instructed a speed restriction on mail and express trains, including the Rajdhani, in the Maoist-hit areas.

The Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) will celebrate its 10-year of formation and likely to launch fresh attacks to protest the ongoing green hunt operations by security forces.