Bomb derails Russian train - rail operator

MALAYA VISHERA, Russia, Aug 14 (Reuters) An improvised bomb laid on the tracks derailed a Russian express train, overturning carriages and injuring dozens of passengers, a railway official said todaay.

''The cause of the accident, as ascertained by the competent organs, was a rupture of the railway tracks by an improvised explosive device,'' Natalya Akafyeva, a spokeswoman for Russian Railways, told Reuters.

''As a result of this the train came off the rails and the tracks were very badly damaged -- about 2,600 ft of track were badly damaged.'' There was no indication of who may have planted the bomb. Groups linked to an insurgency in Russia's Chechnya region have carried out violent attacks in the past but they have mounted no major attacks outside southern Russia for at least a year.

The derailed train was an overnight express service travelling between Moscow and Russia's second city of St Petersburg -- one of the country's busiest rail routes.

Sixty passengers and train crew were injured in the derailment, of which 38 were admitted to hospital, the railways spokeswoman said. About 250 people were on board in all.

The incident happened late yesterday near the village of Malaya Vishera in the Novgorod region, about 500 km north of Moscow.

The train came off the tracks just after crossing a bridge over a road, said a Reuters photographer at the scene.

A conductor on the train showed Reuters a video he recorded on his mobile telephone of a crater about 6 ft across that could be seen on the bridge, where the rails should have been.

PANIC ''We heard two explosions, then the train put on the brakes suddenly,'' one conductor, who did not want to be identified, told Reuters.

''The train shook. A panic started,'' he said. ''We smashed out the glass and helped the passengers out ... The worst damage was in the restaurant car. That is where most of the casualties were.'' The Reuters photographer said nearly all of the carriages and the locomotive were off their tracks, while at least three carriages were tipped onto their side.

Powerful lights had been set up at the trackside as investigators from the Federal Security Service inspected the site and railway workers with cutting equipment removed damaged rails.

Passengers who were not injured were transferred to another train bound for St Petersburg, about 170 km away.

The derailed train was blocking two sets of tracks, causing delays to other rail traffic.

REUTERS CS ND0955