Damaged rail lines halt iron ore movement in Chhattisgarh
By IANSTuesday, April 20, 2010
RAIPUR - Transport of iron ore on a key rail route in Chhattisgarh remained disrupted for the second day Tuesday after suspected Maoists damaged a portion of the tracks in insurgency-hit Bastar district, a railway official said.
“The train movement on Kirandul-Kottavalasa (K-K line) under Waltair Division of the East Coast Railway (ECR) was suspended after 17 wagons of a goods train derailed with three engines at around 1.30 a.m. Monday,” H.L Luwang, senior divisional commercial manager of the ECR, told IANS.
He said work is underway to repair the damaged tracks and pull out derailed wagons, but it would take at least another 24 hours to restore the traffic.
The goods train that was carrying some 4,000 tonnes of iron ore mined by the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) was derailed near Dilimili railway station, some 330 km south of capital Raipur.
P. Sundarraj, superintendent of police, Bastar, said: “it’s not confirmed who removed clips from rail tracks that led to derailment but it seems to be an act of Maoists”.
S.P. Himanshu, assistant general manager, NMDC, said daily dispatches of around 56,000 tonnes iron ore by the company from Kirandul and Bacheli mines had been halted since Monday.
