Why everybody loves to set a train on fire

While today’s incidents were prompted by an issue directly relating to the Railways — that of discontinuing 33 “temporary” stops across ECR — setting a train on fire or damaging Railway property has become a quick way to gain attention whatever the “cause.”

“When you target Railways,you disrupt services for several hours and then the Government listens,” said a senior Railway official. “It’s also most vulnerable since there are always stretches where you can’t guarantee security.”

The Railways usually plays the victim saying law and order is a state subject. Its short-staffed Railways Protection Force (RPF),whose mandate is to protect Railway property,often finds itself struggling to contain mob fury. In fact,there have been instances where the RPF — unless its men were escorting a train — was the last security force to reach the spot of an incident of mob fury.

The Gurjjar agitation in Rajasthan,in May-June 2008 exemplified this best when hundreds laid blockade on a key location on the Delhi-Mumbai trunk route and uprooted Railway tracks,inflicting heavy revenue losses in both passenger and freight segments. The blockade in Bayana led to cancellation,diversion or short-termination of as many as 1,100 trains in addition to severe damage to railway tracks and rolling stock. For almost 17 days,train services were hit. The siege cost the Railways Rs 50 crore in terms of revenue lost and damaged property. The blockade was lifted only when talks began between the protesters and the government.

Just a week ago,protesting mobs torched as many as 11 railway coaches of the Jammu-Kanyakumari Express in Punjab over the killing of a Dera Sachkhand leader in Vienna. They also damaged a locomotive and a track maintenance machine.

Last year,the killing of a Sikh by the security guard of Dera Sacha Sauda’s Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh led a Sikh organisation to call for a “rail roko” agitation in Punjab that resulted in widespread damage to railway property.

As for today’s incidents in Bihar,the Railways Ministry was quick to underline that Mamata Banerjee’s taking over as Railways Minister had nothing to do with the incident.

Pointing out that the decision to withdraw the 33 temporary stops under ECR “was taken by the Zonal Railway without the approval of the Ministry of Railways”,the ministry said that the “temporary stops were earlier given by the local Zonal Railway administration of East Central Railway (ECR),Hajipur at different stations in response to public request and the stop at Khusropur is one of these”.

On May 26,the ECR issued a notification that these stops,which were of “temporary and experimental nature”,were being withdrawn by the Zonal Railway since these were not commercially viable.

The U-turn came after the attacks. “In view of the public sentiment,the Minister of Railways has,however,directed that these temporary stoppages which were withdrawn by ECR,be restored with immediate effect.”