Rourkela-Puri Vande Bharat pelted with stones, none hurt

Bhubaneswar: Rourkela-Puri Vande Bharat Express has been pelted with stones, the East Coast Railway (ECoR) said in a statement on Monday.

However, no injuries were reported in the incident that took place between Meramandali and Budhapank stations in Dhenkanal-Angul railway section on Sunday night, it said.

"Train number 20835 Vande Bharat Express has been targeted by some stone-pelters between Meramandali and Budhapank in the Dhenkanal-Angul railway section of the Bhubaneswar-Sambalpur rail line," the statement read.

A windowpane of an executive class coach was damaged and the train reached Puri with a delay of 13 minutes, a railway official said.

The incident was reported by an official of the Railway Protection Force (RPF), he said.

The security wing of ECoR has taken the matter seriously and has alerted the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the Government Railway Police (GRP), he said.

Local police have also been informed about the matter and strict action will be taken against the stone-pelters, the official said.

The security wing of the ECoR, in coordination with local police, is on the job to trace the culprits, he said.

The East Coast Railway is consistently undertaking drives to make people aware, especially those residing near railway tracks, not to throw stones at trains, the official said.

Similar incidents of pelting Vande Bharat Express trains with stones had earlier been reported from various parts of the country.