In the run up to the Republic Day, suspected anti-Naga peace talks faction of the militant United Peoples Democratic Solidarity on Monday detonated a powerful bomb derailing the 5660 Dibrugarh-Howrah Kamrup Express' engine and three bogies in Assam's Karbi Anglong district.
Passengers of the Howrah-bound train escaped unscathed, a railway spokesperson said in Guwahati on Monday morning, though traffic on the Guwahati-Dibrugarh section has been disrupted.
According to Northeast Frontier Railway sources, a bomb went off on the track between Diphu and Nailalung railway stations around 0140 IST.
As the train was moving at a very slow speed and the brakes were applied immediately, it did not capsize and roll over but jumped the tracks with only minor damages to the engine, he said.
The engine, a parcel van, a luggage compartment and the general bogie went off the track, but rest of the 16 bogies were intact.Top officials of the NF Railway, led by an additional general manager, had rushed to the spot, NF Railway officials said in Guwahati.
Railway sources said a one metre deep, 2metre long and 1.5metre wide crater has been formed at the blast site.
The affected passengers were taken to Diphu from where they were taken to Dibrugarh in the 16 unaffected coaches, which were connected to a new engine after being taken backwards to Diphu station.
In the last fortnight, this is the third accident involving passenger trains on the NF Railway network.
On January 10, the Howrah-Dibrugarh Kamrup Express had derailed 80km from Guwahati while some days before that a couple of bogies of the Dadar-Guwahati Express had caught fire.
With inputs from PTI
