Stones pelted at Vande Bharat Express in Kerala

An incident of stone pelting was reported on the newly launched Vande Bharat Express train in Kerala, officials said.

According to the Southern Railway officials, the incident was reported when the train was travelling between Tirunavaya and Tirur. The train was on its way to Thiruvananthapuram from Kasargod.

Photo Credit: File photo of Vande Bharat Express Train

Kerala's first Vande Bharat Express was flagged from Thiruvananthapuram Central Station on April 25 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Southern Railway said, "no one was injured. The windshield of one coach was damaged. Police have registered a case. We have decided to strengthen train security."

On April 6, a fresh incident of stone pelting was reported at the Vande Bharat Express in Visakhapatnam.
This is the third such incident in the past three months.

Officials said that a coach window glass was broken due to pelting of stones by miscreants.

"Stone pelting was reported between Khammam and Vijayawada railway stations while coming from Secunderabad. The incident happened on Wednesday evening in South Central Railway zone premises," a Waltair Division press note read.

In January stones were pelted on the Vande Bharat train Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh during maintenance. The glass pane of a coach was damaged in stone pelting.

Divisional Railway Manager, Anup Kumar Sethupaati said, "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 a Vande Bharat train was reported from West Bengal, in which the window panes of the coach was damaged. The incident was reported in Murshidabad district of Bengal.

The Railway Protection Force said that two window panes of the train were left damaged.

"Windows of coach C3 and C6 of Vande Bharat Express were found damaged due to stone pelting. It was found, windows were damaged near Phansidewa area in Darjeeling district when the train was moving towards New Jalpaiguri," the Railway Protection Force Commander said.