The station master, a gateman and a porter fled the scene and reappeared about four hours after the incident to resume
duty, they said.
In a pre-dawn raid, Maoists on Saturday, bombed a railway station, stormed another and feared to have abducted two railway officials in Orissa's Sundergarh district, bringing train services on the Tatanagar-Rourkela route to a grinding halt.
About 60 Maoists, including women, struck Bhalulata railway station, 25 km from here on Howrah-Mumbai section, and triggered explosions using landmines and powerful explosives, inspector in-charge of Bisra police station CS Mohanty said.
The station building was virtually razed to the ground as its roof collapsed under the impact of the explosions, Railway police said, adding nobody was injured in the attack.
The station master, a gateman and a porter fled the scene and reappeared about four hours after the incident to resume
duty, they said.
Another railway station at Chandiposh, about 30 km from here on Rourkela-Barasuan section, was also attacked by about 50 Maoists around the same time, police said adding the ultras left after firing but the station master SK Singh and his assistant Samir Mukherjee are missing since then.
The two are feared to have been abducted by the ultras and efforts are on to trace them, police said.
Train services on the Howrah-Mumbai were hit due to the attacks and resumed only after nine hours, leading to the cancellation of four trains.
Train services on the Tatanagar-Rourkela route under Chakradharpur division of South Eastern Railway were badly affected due to the Maoists attack on Bhalulata station.
While at least 10 long-distance trains were detained at various stations, several other passenger and short-distance trains were cancelled, a senior Railway official here said.
The Bilaspur-New Delhi Rajdhani which began its trial run to Howrah on Saturday, was also affected, the official said.
Railway sources said an engineering team of railways and police officials have rushed to Bhalulata railway station to examine the track and ascertain whether any landmine or explosive had been planted.
In Kolkata, South Eastern Railway said communication equipment, signalling equipment and some line clearing equipment was damaged in the blast at Bhalulata station.
The attack took place barely two hours before the beginning of a 24-hour bandh by Maoists in Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and West Bengal alleging police excesses and illegal detention of people.
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