New Delhi: Unidentified persons pelted stones at a coach of the Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam Vande Bharat Express train while it was passing through Mahabubabad district in Telangana on Friday, news agency PTI reported.
Asked if there was any damage to the coach or if any window panes were cracked, railway officials, as quoted by PTI said, “It (damage) will be assessed after the train reaches Visakhapatnam.”
According to the report, it is suspected that some children may have pelted the stones at the railway coach. However, further investigations on the matter is underway and action will be taken based on the probe, the officials said.
The Railway Protection Force (RPF) said they have taken note of the incident and will file a case on its own.
Notably, ahead of the launch of the Vande Bharat Express last month, some unidentified persons had pelted stones at a coach of the train at the railway yard in Visakhapatnam, breaking a glass window.
Earlier in January, stone pelting at a Vande Bharat train was reported in West Bengal, disrupting the train operations and halting it for 10 minutes at Bolpur railway station.
Previously, stones were pelted at the Vande Bharat Express, connecting Howrah to New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal, and preliminary probe revealed that the incident took place while the train was passing through Bihar. The incident happened between Dalkola and Telta railway stations of Katihar Rail division falling under the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR). The window panes of the C6 coach of the train (22302) was damaged in the incident, as per reports.
It is to be noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 15 had virtually flagged off the Vande Bharat train service between Secunderabad in Telangana and the port city of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh on the auspicious occasion of Makar Sankranti.