Humsafar Express hits iron grill in Lucknow, 8th sabotage attempt in UP since April

Humsafar Express

A major train accident was narrowly avoided after the Anand Vihar Terminal–Gorakhpur Humsafar Express (12572) struck an iron grill that had been allegedly placed on the railway tracks between Dilkusha and Malhaur in Lucknow in the early hours of Sunday, TOI reported.

According to the officials, the incident occurred around 3 am, and the train was saved from derailment only because it was moving at a slow speed at the time. The attempted sabotage also marks the eighth such incident on railway tracks in Uttar Pradesh, and the third such attempt reported in Lucknow since April this year.

The Gomti Nagar police have registered an FIR based on a complaint filed by Rajiv Srivastava, the senior section engineer (P-Way). The case has been registered under sections 151 and 153 of the Railway Act, which deal with damaging railway property and endangering passenger safety, respectively.

The FIR noted that around 3.40 am, the railway control room was informed that the Humsafar Express had hit an iron grill on the Dilkusha–Malhaur route.

After the incident, the train’s loco pilots removed the grill from the track. "Since the train was moving at low speed, the risk of derailment was reduced," TOI quoted a Northern Railway official from the Lucknow division as saying.

Notably, the state has seen a string of such sabotage attempts over the past several months. In June 2025, a train near Dohna station in Bareilly narrowly escaped an accident after stones were stuffed into the track mechanism and an overhead equipment plate was bent.

In May 2025, several similar incidents were reported, including attempts to derail the Delhi–Shamli MEMU train and the New Delhi–Bhubaneswar Tejas Rajdhani Express using large pipes, stones, and concrete blocks.

Two separate attempts to cause train derailments were also reported in Hardoi district in the month of May. Logs had been placed on the tracks in an apparent effort to derail the Delhi–Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express (20504) and the Kathgodam Express (15044).

Earlier, on April 22, a freight train struck a large metal door that had been left on the tracks between Utraitai Junction and Bakkas. This caused damage to important rail clips known as pandrol clips, which help keep the tracks in place.

On April 16, a mango tree branch was deliberately placed on the railway line, causing alarm as the Delhi-bound Garib Rath Express approached Malihabad, TOI reported.