Stones pelted at Vande Bharat train in Kerala, third incident this year

Unidentified miscreants allegedly pelted stones at the recently launched Vande Bharat Express train on Monday when it was passing through an area between Thirunavaya and Tirur in this northern Kerala district, according to the news agency PTI. 

The incident took place around 5 pm on Monday, and railway officials alerted the local police about it. The cops said that the train continued its journey to Thiruvananthapuram and no one was injured.

Speaking to PTI, police said, “We were alerted by the railway officials. The investigation is on to trace the miscreants.”

According to preliminary reports, the stones left minor scratches on some window panes of the train. 

Earlier in January, stones were pelted on the Vande Bharat train in Visakhapatnam city of Andhra Pradesh during maintenance. The glass pane of a coach of Vande Bharat Express was damaged near Kancharapalem in Visakhapatnam.

According to Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Anup Kumar Sethupati, "Some unknown persons pelted stones at Vande Bharat train as it reached Visakhapatnam for maintenance and train run. Stones were pelted on train coaches while it was going to the coach care centre for maintenance from Visakhapatnam station.

On March 12, an incident of stone pelting on Vande Bharat Express train was reported from West Bengal in which window panes of a coach of the high-speed train were damaged, Eastern Railway said in a statement as quoted by ANI. 

The incident was reported to have taken place near Farrakka in Murshidabad district of West Bengal. 

In January 2023, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) informed that two window panes of the Vande Bharat Express train were left damaged after stones were allegedly pelted on the two coaches near the Phansidewa area of the Darjeeling district. This was the second attack as earlier in the same month the Vande Bharat Express window panes were broken as stones were thrown at the train connecting Howrah to New Jalpaiguri near Malda.

The RPF Commander had informed that the incident happened near the Phansidewa area in the Darjeeling district.

(With inputs from agencies)