The Jaffar Express, carrying 440 passengers, was hijacked by Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) members while it was travelling from Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, to Peshawar, the capital of the north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The BLA derailed the train using explosives near Sibi city, about 160 km from Quetta, on 11th March 2025. It is a remote mountainous area in Mach, in the south-western Balochistan province.
The train was partially inside a tunnel when the militants blew up the tracks, forcing the engine and nine coaches to stop. The train was carrying 440 passengers. The hostages were used as “human shields”. The BLA had offered to free passengers if authorities agreed to release their jailed fighters. Finally, the BLA killed 21 civilian hostages and four security personnel. Security forces stormed the stranded train and later eliminated all 33 attackers to end the train siege after 30 hours.
The passengers were asked to come out of the train one by one. Gunmen sorted passengers using identity cards. Balochistan residents were set free. They separated the women and asked them to leave. They also spared the elders. A few passengers escaped. They shot soldiers and security personnel. The train driver was among several reportedly injured. Authorities also deployed helicopters and Special Forces personnel.
Babar Masih, a 38-year-old Christian labourer, and his family walked for hours through rugged mountains to reach a train that could take them to a makeshift hospital on a railway platform.
Balochistan Liberation
Oil and mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest and least populated (14.8 million) province. It has an area of 347,190 square kilometres. This makes it the largest province in Pakistan, covering 43.6 per cent of the country’s land. The Baloch people make up 3.6 per cent of Pakistan’s population, 2 per cent of Iran, and 2 per cent of Afghanistan.
Balochistan is a hub for the country’s ethnic Baloch minority, whose members say they face discrimination and exploitation by the central government. The security forces are accused of crimes including torture and extrajudicial killings, allegations they deny. Balochistan has been struggling with a lack of security for decades. The region is home to several armed groups, including the BLA.
Balochistan borders Iran and Afghanistan and has long been the scene of insurgency. Separatists demand greater autonomy from the government in Islamabad and a larger share of the region’s natural resources. The BLA has waged a decades-long insurgency to gain independence and has launched numerous deadly attacks, often targeting police stations, railway lines, and highways. Pakistani authorities, as well as several Western countries, including the UK and the US, have designated the group a terrorist organisation. Many have strongly urged all relevant stakeholders to forge an urgent rights-based, pro-people consensus on the issues faced by citizens in Balochistan and to find a peaceful, political solution.
Counter-insurgency operations in impoverished Balochistan by the Pakistan Army and security forces have reportedly seen thousands of people disappear without a trace since the early 2000s. Members of the Pakistan military frequently use trains to travel from Quetta to other parts of the country.
In August 2024, attackers blew up part of a track in Balochistan, resulting in the suspension of the Jaffar Express for two months before services resumed in October. In January last year, separatists exploded another bomb on the train’s route near the Bolan area, injuring at least 13 people. In November, the BLA carried out a suicide bombing at a train station in Quetta, killing 30 people. While their primary target is the security forces, they do sometimes kill civilians to get instant public and media attention.
Other than the Pak Official Version
The Pakistan Army has been very active in the province; last year alone, it killed 225 people. There are thus question marks as to why there was insufficient security on board that train. At least 100 of those on the train were reportedly members of the security forces. In that case, they failed miserably.
Reports say some of the militants may have left the train, taking an unknown number of passengers with them into the surrounding mountainous area. Dozens of wooden coffins were seen being loaded at Quetta Railway Station. Security forces had to deploy hundreds of troops to rescue the remaining passengers. Plain-clothes security force personnel, travelling in the train, could not be of much help.
Some Major Train Hijackings in History
Hijackings have shaped global security policies. One of the first recorded train hijackings, the Lincheng incident, took place in China in 1923 when bandits stopped the Peking Express and kidnapped around 300 passengers. The train was derailed, and passengers were taken hostage. Some high-profile foreign diplomats were among the hostages. The event led to international diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis, ultimately ending in ransom payments. The incident resulted in increased international military presence in China.
In 1975, South Moluccan armed militant separatists hijacked a train and took 50 hostages in Wijster, Netherlands, demanding recognition for their movement. They executed three hostages to force the government’s hand. The hijackers were finally forced to surrender. The incident brought public attention to the growing concerns about separatist extremism in Europe.
The Southern Pacific Express hijacking in the United States in 1976 was led by an armed criminal gang looking to rob passengers and freight. The gang took control of the train in Texas. Armed police intercepted the train after a prolonged chase. All hostages were freed, and the criminals were arrested.
Two years later (1977), another Moluccan group hijacked a train at De Punt, Netherlands, leading to a 20-day standoff. The Dutch Special Forces stormed the train, killing six hijackers. Two hostages were also killed. Governments were now forced to have specialised hostage rescue teams.
The Santa Fe, Mexico, 1980 train hijacking was a politically motivated event executed by an armed militia seeking to demand changes in local governance. Several passengers held hostage were killed in the standoff with the military. Finally, the perpetrators were captured.
Maoist rebels in India hijacked a Rajdhani Express train in 2009 to protest government policies. Around 400 insurgents had stopped the train. They demanded the release of political prisoners. All hostages were released after negotiations. Hijackers fled. More security personnel were thereafter deployed on trains through sensitive areas.
A suburban train (electric multiple unit, EMU) was allegedly hijacked by a young man from Chennai Central Railway Station on 29 April 2009 at 5:00 AM. He had started the train from the Chennai Central Railway Station, which was stationed at that time. He accelerated its speed and drove the train on a wrong track, i.e., the track which is meant for the downward (returning) trains. But within a distance of about 3 kilometres, the train had collided with another goods train,n which was stationed on the same track. The alleged hijacker lost his life with multiple injuries while attempting to escape from that train just before the collision with the goods train.
Main Reasons for Train Hijackings
Train hijackings are usually motivated by political, terrorist, or criminal objectives, including ransom demands or hostage-taking. Most governments have improved railway security, deployed Special Forces, and implemented stricter crisis-response protocols. While rare, train hijackings still occur in politically unstable regions. Improved security measures have significantly reduced their frequency.
Hijacking Train Compared to Aircraft
Trains move over large distances on the ground. Most of these cannot be guarded. There is a much larger number of passengers. There are many entry points on a train. A train can be stopped by creating a derailment. It can be taken over by taking the driver hostage. It can be rerouted by taking cyber control of the signal system. It can be stopped at an isolated,d remote place. Militants can board in large numbers at some wayside railway station. It is impossible to ensure airport-like security at railway stations.
The Train Control and Monitoring System (TCMS) is a vital part of monitoring sensors in a train. The data output of the sensors is sent wirelessly to the data server for monitoring. However, as the wireless channel used to send the data is a shared public network, the transmitted data is prone to hackers and cyber attacks. Efforts are being made to secure these transmissions. Data and network security aim to secure the communication between the on-board train control system and the data centre. In a train-to-train and train-to-ground Communications-based Train Control (CBTC) network, Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) can be installed to secure client-server communication.
Planes can be hijacked and taken to terrorists’ areas; like in IC 814, they took the plane to Kandahar because it was a haven for them. But a train cannot be taken away from the railway lines. So, no matter where they take a train, law enforcement agencies can easily regain control in a short time. Even if someone hijacks a train, every coach has at least 4 doors, and bogies are interconnected. The number of terrorists required to control the crowd will be very large. However, trains can be easy targets of bombing and IED-based derailments.
The Great Train Robbery
The Great Train Robbery was the robbery of £2.61 million (worth about £69 million GBP, equivalent to approximately $3.284 million USD in 2023) from a Royal Mail train travelling from Glasgow to London on the West Coast Main Line in the early hours of 8 August 1963 at Bridego Railway Bridge, Ledburn, near Mentmore in Buckinghamshire, England. After tampering with the line-side signals to bring the train to a halt, a gang of 15, led by Bruce Reynolds, attacked the train. A 16th man, an unnamed retired train driver, was also present.
With careful planning based on inside information from an individual known as “The Ulsterman”, whose real identity has never been established, the robbers escaped with over £2.61 million. The bulk of the stolen money has never been recovered. The gang did not use any firearms, though Jack Mills, the train driver, was beaten over the head with a metal bar and suffered serious head injuries.
After the robbery, the gang hid at Leatherslade Farm. The police found this hideous and incriminating evidence, a Monopoly board with fingerprints, which led to the eventual arrest and conviction of most of the gang. The 11 ringleaders were sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Way Ahead
Most train hijackings are local militant-led initiatives. There is an urgent need to understand the psychology of militancy and frame counter-insurgency policies accordingly. Train hijacking incidents give visibility to militant causes and raise popular issues like land, poverty, exploitation, and corruption. The success of any government strategy is to balance security, assuaging public anger, and resolving exploitation.
Technology can be used to divert or stop the train. Railways can take control of a train externally. If run by an electric locomotive, just switch off the power from the switching post to the overhead lines feeding power to that train, and the train will come to a stop, whether the hijacker likes it or not. Before that, the train can be made to roll to a dead-end line. If run by a diesel locomotive, once the fuel tank is empty, the locomotive and train will come to a stop. Before that, the train can be made to roll to a dead-end line.
In India, there are many cases of derailment due to the placement of an object on railway tracks. There are also cases of throwing stones at moving trains to damage property. Often, such incidents happen at known locations and sensitive places where the train passes.
The Railway Protection Force (RPF) has to have better training and enthusiasm. Intelligence information has to be better coordinated with local agencies. On-board train security has to increase. Drone surveillance with digital feedback is an important tool. It can even be used in remote areas.
The security checks at most railway stations are very perfunctory. These need to be made realistic with many more machines. Railway Station security is far from desirable. Specially trained commandos of the Railways, the Armed Forces, and the National Security Guard (NSG) have to prepare for such contingencies. Lastly, the masses have to be made more security-conscious.
Header Picture Credit: Representative Image Generated using AI
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