Bomb Hoax delays Visakhapatnam-bound train

A bomb hoax on board a Visakhapatnam-bound train today prompted railway authorities to carry out an intensive search in all its compartments, officials said here.

The train was delayed by nearly an hour due to the search, but traffic on the route remained unaffected, they said.

A passenger travelling in a sleeper coach of the Samata Express coming from New Delhi raised alarm after finding a suspicious note in its toilet that read "Repeatery bomb PPN in AP (sic)".

The passenger then informed Delhi Control Room, which alerted the zonal authorities who searched the train when it reached here at 10.30 am, Inspector, GRP, Pankaj Lavania said.

The entire train, especially the S2 coach, where the note was found, was thoroughly checked by the officials of the government railway police (GRP), railway protection force (RPF) and a dog squad, Railway PRO Bhupender Dhillon said here.

"The train was allowed after 50 minutes of checking in which nothing objectionable was found," he said, adding the traffic on the route remained unaffected by the delay.

"There was no other train behind Samata Express with a stoppage at Mathura junction. However, there were two trains which didn't have a halt here and continued unaffected," the PRO said.