The Jaffar Express, carrying 440 passengers, was hijacked by Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) members when 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 March 12. It is a remote mountainous area in Mach, in the south-western Balochistan province.
The hostages were used as “Human Shields”. The BLA had offered to free passengers if authorities agreed to release their jailed fighters.
In a news briefing, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said 18 off-duty military and paramilitary Frontier Corps personnel, three railway staff and five passengers were killed in the initial attack. Five Frontier Corps personnel were killed in the ensuing battle with militants.
Pakistan’s security forces stormed the stranded train and claimed eliminating 33 attackers to end the train siege after 30 hours. But conflicting figures suggest many passengers remain unaccounted for or have been eliminated by BLA, as per their latest press release.
In an email to EurAsian Times, BLA claimed executing 214 hostages while acknowledging loss of 12 fighters.
The passengers were asked to come out of the train one by one. Gunmen sorted passengers through identity cards. Balochistan residents were set free. They separated women and asked them to leave. They also spared elders. 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 covers 347,190 square kilometres, making it the largest province in Pakistan, covering 43.6 percent of the country’s land. Baloch people comprise 3.6 percent of Pakistan’s population, 2 percent of Iran, and 2 percent 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 extra-judicial 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 Pakistan’s army and security forces have reportedly seen thousands of people disappear without 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 are the security forces, they do sometimes kill civilians to get instant public and media attention.
Other Than 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-clothed 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.
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 specialized 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.
A suburban train (electric motor unit, EMU) was allegedly hijacked by a young man from Chennai central railway station on April 29, 2009. He had started the train from the Chennai Central railway station.
He accelerated its speed and drove the train on the wrong track, the track meant for downward (returning) trains. But within about 3 kilometres, the train collided with another goods train stationed on the same track.
Main Reasons for Train Hijackings
The 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
A train moves large distances on the ground, most of which cannot be guarded. It has many passengers and entry points. The train can be stopped by derailing or taken over by taking the driver hostage.
It can be rerouted by cyber-controlling the signal system. It can be stopped in an isolated 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 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 are prone to hackers and 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’ strongholds, like in the case of IC814, they took the plane to Kandahar (Afghanistan) because it was a safe 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 quickly regain the lost control.
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 GBP (US$3.28 million), equivalent to approximately £69 million GBP 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 hideout, and incriminating evidence, a Monopoly board with fingerprints, 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 counterinsurgency policies accordingly. Train hijacking incidents give visibility to militant causes and raise popular issues like land, poverty, exploitation, and corruption.
Technology can be used to divert or stop the train. Railways can take control of a train externally. If run by 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.
In India, there are many cases of derailment caused by objects placed on railway tracks and stones thrown on moving trains to damage property. Such incidents often happen at known locations and sensitive places from where the train passes.
What Can India Do?
Intelligence is the key! India needs to bolster its human and tech-based intelligence networks to detect early signs of such threats. This means embedding informants in vulnerable regions, monitoring communication on encrypted platforms, and using AI-driven tools to analyze patterns of militant activity.
For instance, groups with a history of targeting infrastructure—like Maoists or separatist outfits—should be relentlessly tracked. The intelligence agencies must coordinate with state police and local informants to catch wind of any plans before they materialize. Regular sweeps of railway routes in high-risk areas, using drones or satellite imagery, could also help spot suspicious activity.
Prevention comes next. India’s railway network, one of the largest in the world, is a soft target due to its sheer scale. Hardening these targets means installing CCTV cameras with facial recognition at major stations and on trains, especially long-distance ones like the Rajdhani or Shatabdi Express.
Random checks by Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel, armed and trained for quick response, should be standard. More importantly, India could deploy plainclothes marshals on high-risk routes—silent eyes and ears who can act fast if trouble brews.
Training and coordination are critical. The RPF and state police need specialized counter-terrorism training, focusing on scenarios like train hijackings. Joint drills with the National Security Guard (NSG)—India’s go-to unit for such crises—should simulate real-world conditions: crowded trains, remote areas, and armed militants with hostages.
Operationally, India can learn from global examples. Israel’s handling of hostage crises often involves overwhelming force paired with precise intelligence—think Entebbe 1976.
India’s biggest asset is its people. Community policing—training locals near railway lines to report suspicious behavior—can create a grassroots intelligence net.
- Air Marshal Anil Chopra (Retired) is an Indian Air Force veteran fighter test pilot and is currently the Director-General of the Center for Air Power Studies in New Delhi. He has been decorated with gallantry and distinguished service medals while serving in the IAF for 40 years. He tweets @Chopsyturvey
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