Bihar Railway Wire Theft Disrupts Services in Gaya-Patna

Train services on the Gaya-Patna rail section were significantly disrupted for nearly three hours on Thursday morning following the theft of approximately 100 metres of a 25,000-volt overhead electrical (OHE) wire. The incident occurred at roughly 3:05 am between Tehta and Jehanabad stations, forcing railway authorities to switch to single-line operations to manage traffic. Railway personnel managed to restore the infrastructure by 6:26 am, allowing full services to resume.

The theft is not an isolated occurrence, reflecting a persistent challenge for railway safety and infrastructure security in Bihar. Similar incidents have targeted signalling cables and overhead wires across different rail routes in the state, often involving sophisticated methods such as using bamboo poles to cut wires. Previous cases, such as those at Fatuha and in the Narkatiaganj-Muzaffarpur section, have shown that such disruptions cause considerable inconvenience to thousands of daily commuters and damage critical infrastructure worth significant government investment.

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) has recovered the stolen material and initiated a formal investigation to apprehend those responsible. Railway officials are exploring heightened security measures for vulnerable sections of the tracks to deter further tampering. The disruption highlights the urgent need for increased surveillance and patrol in identified sensitive zones. Authorities are working to ensure that the culprits face the full extent of the law to prevent future infrastructure vulnerabilities that threaten both the efficiency and safety of regional rail travel.