Stone Pelting on Tapaswini Express Near Lapanga Station; AC Coach Window Shattered

Rourkela (The Uttam Hindu): On Saturday morning around 5:45 am, unknown miscreants pelted stones on the Tapaswini Express train going from Puri to Hatia near Lapanga station in Jharsuguda district. In this incident, the glass of an AC coach of the train broke, causing panic among the passengers.

According to information received from the Railway Protection Force (RPF), due to stone pelting by miscreants, the stone hit the front window of seat number 15 of AC coach number B-7 of the train. Due to the stone hitting, the glass of the AC bogie broke completely and glass pieces scattered inside the coach.

As soon as the incident was reported, Railway Protection Force personnel reached the spot in Jharsuguda and started investigating the matter. RPF has confirmed that no passenger suffered any physical injury or harm in this stone pelting. However, the motive behind this stone pelting is not yet clear and the police are trying to identify the people involved in it.

In this regard, coach attendant of Puri-Hatia Tapaswini Express, KC Nayak said that when this incident happened, he was going towards the gate. Then some passengers came to him and told that they were sitting on their seats and they got scared due to stone pelting. Along with breaking the glass, a big piece of glass fell on the seat.

The coach attendant immediately informed the TTE of the concerned AC coach about the incident. The TTE inspected the coach and after seeing the broken glass, informed the Jharsuguda station manager about the incident. However, when the train passed through Rajgangpur and Rourkela stations, the glass of the AC bogie was not replaced. The coach attendant has said that the glass will now be replaced only after the train reaches Hatia.

This incident is not new. Earlier on 26 March 2025, miscreants had pelted stones on the Rourkela-Puri Vande Bharat Express train between Panposh-Kalunga station on this route and broke the glass of a bogie. The accused of that incident are still out of the grasp of Rourkela RPF. Once again, the incident of stone pelting on Tapaswini Express, an important train on this route, has raised serious questions on the security arrangements for passengers in trains on this route.