Terrorist attack on Indian Railways: Cause for Concern

An hour past midday on 13 June 2013, Maoists attacked the Dhanbad-Patna Intercity Express near Jamui district in Bihar, killing three persons and injuring six passengers.The train was attacked despite being escorted by five armed personnel from the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Railway Protection Special Force (RPSF). The dead included a Railway Protection Force personnel, a Bihar Police sub inspector and a passenger. The Maoists also made off with one AK 47 and two INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) rifles from the police escorts.

This was the third attack by Maoists on the Indian Railways this year, the earlier two incidents relating to blowing up of rail tracks. Attacks on India’s communication infrastructure represent a serious challenge to the nations’ security establishment, one that can adversely affect growth besides having serious connotations on move of forces during war and in other conflict situations.

Attacks on the rail network have been a part of Maoist strategy since long. In 2009 and 2010, the large number of attacks directed against Indian Railways prompted preventive measures, which led to a decline in such incidents in the next two years, as indicated by the table below . However, the malaise, while contained, has by no means been obliterated and has the potential to rear its ugly head again. The June attack is a pointer in this direction as the attack was conducted by day – a departure from Maoist methodology that emphasised conducting such attacks by night. Evidently, the confidence level of forces inimical to India is on the rise.

On the internal security situation, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde reiterated that LWE remains India’s gravest challenge and the strategy to combat violence in these areas has to be a combination of security measures coupled with development. While measures to improve security over the rail network have yielded positive results, much more needs to be done on this front. Indian Railways play a vital role in connecting remote regions, which is both a strategic necessity and also a more economical mode of transport for development. Such networks not only connect backward areas to metropolitan cities but also are six times more energy-efficient than road and four times more economical. Presently, when many industrial projects are languishing due to environmental regulations, the social costs in terms of environment damage or degradation are significantly lower in rail. Rail construction costs are approximately six times lower than road for comparable levels of traffic. It is the only major transport mode capable of using any form of primary energy. It is primarily for this reason that railway infrastructure is targeted by Maoists to cause dysfunction to the state by prohibiting any development in that region.
Indian Railway network is divided into seventeen zones out of which five zones (4, 5, 16, 15, 14), comprising East Central Railway, Eastern Railway, South Eastern Railway, are spread over the red corridor (see map). There have been more than 100 terrorist attacks on Indian Railways infrastructure in eastern sector alone in the last five years(See Table). The aim is to loot weapons from the police forces placed to protect railways property as also to create a sense of fear amongst businessmen/contractors and gain psychological ascendency among masses.

Railway lines in districts of West Bengal and Assam such as Karbi Anglong, North Cachar Hills, Golaghat, Udalguri, Jorhat and Jalpaiguri have repeatedly been targeted. These fall under Eastern Railway Zone which particularly needs to protected as they are the lifelines to our North Eastern borders. Eastern Central Region where maximum number of attacks has taken place is unique in the sense that both goods and passenger traffic assume great importance in view of the huge coal loading in the coal-bearing belt of Dhanbad Division of Jharkhand state and densely populated area of Bihar. Frequent attacks compel railway authorities to suspend trains causing inconvenience to passengers and disrupting business, trade and other development activities for days.

After a slew of abductions and repeated threats from CPI (Maoist), the railway unions have threatened to pull out men and women engaged in vital operation-related work in these areas. “We have taken up the matter with the apex level in the ministry, including the chairman and member staff. No one wants a crippling strike, but with so many complaints pouring in, we might have no other option if we cannot find a solution,” said Shiv Gopal Mishra, general secretary of All India Railwaymen’s Federation.
Responsibility of safety and protection of Indian Railway infrastructure is divided between RPF and GPF. Railway protection Force was constituted under the Railway Protection Force Act, 1957 for ensuring better protection and security of railways. It was modified several times to provide legal powers to RPF. Primarily, RPF is entrusted with responsibility of safeguarding railway property. Government Railway Police (GRP) on the other hand is responsible exclusively for law and order at railway stations. However, the protection of goods-sheds, goods-wagons at stations and parcel offices is not the duty of the Railway Police, but of the Railway Protection Force.

Due to vastly spread Indian railway network, RPF guards operate in small groups in far-flung areas, revealing poor command and control and limited communication. Their force strength is small in comparison to spread of railways. In addition, poor working conditions and lack of combat training negatively affect the functioning of the force.Bad weather leads to delay of trains by many hours but guards do not get any compensation unlike other railway personnel (drivers, operation guard). Providing high-end equipment to RPF for safeguarding railway infrastructure is important but it will not reap benefits if morale of these guards is low and they do not consider railway property as their own. Guards often complain of absence of defined work for them. Along with strengthening and modernising RPF, there is a need to address lack of motivation and leadership.

In reference to Red Corridor, especially Eastern Central Zone, number of troops deployed in each train must be increased. Training and leadership remains a vital issue, which must be addressed. Installing closed circuit televisions in vulnerable stations and assistance from dog squads should also be increased.

The Railways' role as a major infrastructure service provider must be reinforced. Indian Railways has become a symbol of national integration and a strategic instrument for enhancing our defence preparedness. With government providing constructive support to infrastructural arena, development in backward areas can exponentially benefit from a well spread network of railways reinforced under resistant and revived RPF.

 The author is a Research Intern at CLAWS

Views expressed are personal