AHMEDABAD: An attempt to derail a train was foiled on Monday morning when an alert railway employee spotted that as many as 234 clips that fasten the rail tracks to concrete sleepers had been removed along the Matoda and Maroiya route.
Confirming the news, railway officials said that no passenger train ran on the route.
Though, they added, that this was not merely an attempt to steal as the clips were found thrown into bushes on the sides of the railway tracks. “It was a deliberate attempt to derail the train,” said police.
The railway official said, “The track had been recently aligned after being converted from metre gauge to broad gauge in Moraiya. Only goods train and DEMU trains were being run on the track on trial basis.”
He added, “The incident came to light when a railway employee was patrolling the route and spotted that the clips were missing from a portion of the track. The employee informed the seniors and then the railway protection force.”
A police officer said, “The incident was reported at 8.30am, following which train movement along the track was stopped for around two and a half hour. A DEMU train with just a locomotive pilot and a guard were stopped from using the track.” Any train that chugged along the track would have been derailed, said the police officer.
Apart from the local police, other agencies are likely to be roped into the investigation.
Railway officials said that the route is known as the Ahmedabad-Bhavnagar track which will be commissioned in March.
The Sabarmati railway police haved filed a complaint under Section 150 of the railways act for maliciously wrecking or attempting to wreck a train.
