About 1,500 train passengers had a providential escape when suspected Tamil extremists blew up the railway tracks near Villupuram, about 145 km south of Chennai, in the early hours of Saturday in protest against the recent visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to India.
Slamming the Indian government and the “collaborating” Tamil Nadu administration for welcoming “racist” Rajapakse, an outfit calling itself the “Medhagu Prabhakaran Thambigal (Younger Brothers of Honourable Prabhakaran)” exhorted the Tamil people in a few handwritten Tamil pamphlets found near the blast site to “break the silence”.
The police ruled out the involvement of Maoists, pointing out that they “proudly stake claim to the blast and would not hide behind a Tamil chauvinist outfit”.
Guard T. Rajasekaran in his little cabin at the tail end of the Salem-Chennai Express had felt a strong jolt and heard loud noise at about 2 am on Saturday when the train had just crossed Perani station, between Villupuram and Tindivanam. He alerted the section controller and the stationmaster of the next railway station, who in turn cautioned the driver of the Trichy-Chennai Rockfort Express, which was a few kilometres behind. The Rockfort Express was then at 75 kmph but drivers B. Gopinath and Rajkumar slowed to around 10 kmph to look out for any track defect ahead. They spotted the fracture in the track about 10 feet away and brought the train to a halt, saving more than 1,500 passengers from disaster.
The drivers and three RPF constables got off the train and found that the rail was fractured to a length of 98 cm, two concrete sleepers were torn off and that the blast had been caused by two wires found burnt and running right up to an electric pump set of a nearby farm. “The miscreants drew power from that electric line for setting off the blast. Preliminary investigation showed that slurry, a crude explosive used for stone quarrying, was used,” a senior officer said.