CLEARED SKHERNashik: The railway protection force (RPF) has started patrolling on the Howrah-Mumbai Duronto Express which passes from here through the night after the robbery on Friday.The Duronto Express—which travels 308km between Bhusawal station and Igatpuri without any stoppage— was targeted at 2.37am on Friday near Maheji railway station. Thieves had cut off the wire connecting the signal junction box, thereby turning the red signal. Train driver halted at the spot, about 58km from Bhusawal.No sooner had the train halted, six miscreants swung into action. They snatched the gold chains and laptops from three passengers, who were sleeping near the windows in S-4 and S-2 coaches, the complaint with the Government Railway police (GRP) states.Senior divisional security commissioner Ajay Dubey said, “Since there is a shortage of staff, some trains did not have patrolling. Now, we are again shuffling personnel. The train (Duronto Express) will now be manned by the RPF.”In addition, teams have been formed to gather more information about the robbery . “We have deployed our crime intelligence bureau (CIB) to identify the suspects. They are talking to the local police and villagers to find out if some people had visited their village and left after committing the crime,” said Dubey.Along with this, the Railways have also upped the vigil along this route. “The Kasara to Jalgaon section has a non-automatic signaling block — which means that the signals are operated manually and changed by the staff. The railway staff changes the signals from red to green to allow passage of trains. We have asked the staff to be extra vigilant regarding signal changes on this route,” said a senior officer from the divisional railway manager’s office.

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