Services resume on Udaipur-Ahmedabad train track day after blast

Udaipur/Jaipur: Railway engineers have restored the Udaipur-Ahmedabad train track, a portion of which was damaged in an explosion here, officials said on Monday.

A North Western Railway spokesperson said in Jaipur that an Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) team gave site clearance at 11 pm on Sunday, following which railway engineers repaired the track and declared it fit for train movement at 3.30 am.

After the track was restored, the Asarwar-Udaipur Express was operated and it reached the Udaipur railway station at 12.30 pm, he said.

Central and state agencies, including the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS), are investigating the case.

Inspector General of Udaipur Range Prafulla said the explosive expert team of the National Security Guard (NSG) has also collected evidence from the site and other central and state agencies are working together on the case.

He said it was too early to say what kind of explosive was used and that it would be clear after the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) gives its report.

"Evidence have been collected from the site. The work at the site has almost been completed and the track has been restored. Now the central and state agency officials will sit together for detailing and discussion on a roadmap for the investigation," he told reporters at the site in Udaipur.

The IG said the Udaipur superintendent of police has formed a Special Investigation Team for the case.

The explosion occurred on the railway track at a bridge between Jawar and Khawar Chanda under the Ajmer division of the North Western Railway in the early hours of Sunday.

Local people heard the explosion and two of them reached the site on Sunday morning. They saw the damaged track and informed the railway authorities and the police.

The track was opened on October 31 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the inaugural run of the Asarwa-Udaipur Express from the Asarwa railway station in Ahmedabad.

Officials have said mining explosives were used in the blast.