A blast damaged the Anupgarh-Suratgarh railway line in Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar district late Tuesday night, prompting a multi-agency investigation into a suspected attempt to derail a passenger train near the India-Pakistan border. Rail traffic on the affected section was suspended and four passenger services were cancelled on Wednesday, November 4.
The explosion occurred near village 50 GB, close to Red Baggi in the Ram Singhpur area. A passenger train that departed Anupgarh Junction for Suratgarh at about 8.30 pm passed the stretch near 9 pm, roughly an hour before the blast. No casualties were reported in the supplied account.
The force of the explosion shattered two concrete railway sleepers beneath the tracks, while another account cited damage to three concrete sleeper pillars. The blast exposed the iron reinforcement rods inside the concrete blocks, dislodged track clips and created a crater of nearly two feet beneath the railway line. The sound was heard by residents living in a dhani around 200 metres from the site.
Local residents alerted authorities after hearing the explosion. Sri Ganganagar Superintendent of Police Harishankar Yadav reached the location with teams from the Intelligence Bureau, the Criminal Investigation Department, the Anti-Terrorism Squad and forensic officials. The Forensic Science Laboratory team collected samples for examination.
Yadav said investigators were examining the intensity of the explosion, the material used and the people behind the incident. The type of explosive and the method used to trigger it had not been established at the time of the report. Ram Singhpur Circle Inspector Ram Pratap confirmed the timing of the passenger train’s movement and the subsequent blast.
Railway Protection Force Inspector General Jyoti Kumar Satija also visited the site on Wednesday. He described the incident as a suspicious explosion in the Anupgarh area and said the ATS, police and other security agencies were conducting an intensive investigation. The RPF was examining the incident separately.
The affected railway section connects Anupgarh and Suratgarh, making the damaged track a direct operational point for passenger services in the border district. The four cancelled services were trains 59711, 59712, 59715 and 59716, operating between Suratgarh and Anupgarh.
The investigation is also examining whether the blast is connected to a recent recovery from the same border region. Security agencies had seized 7.750 kg of suspected RDX, two Turkish-made Zigana pistols, four magazines, about 867 cartridges, five batteries and two remote controls from Rawla Mandi in Sri Ganganagar district. The consignment was suspected to have been dropped by a Pakistani drone on Monday night.
However, no official link between the weapons recovery and the railway blast had been established. Senior ATS officials and a Bomb Disposal Squad team were expected to conduct a detailed examination of the blast site as investigators worked to identify the explosive material, determine how the device was activated and establish responsibility.
