6-month-old baby goes missing from moving train, found alive on tracks
Times of India | 21 August 2026
Purbasthali (East Burdwan): A six-month-old infant who mysteriously vanished from a locked AC coach of the Kamrup Express while the train was on the move was found alive hours later lying between active railway tracks in East Burdwan.
Rahul Kumar, an electronics store owner from Bihar, was travelling with his wife and daughter from Tinsukia to Howrah when his wife noticed the baby was missing around 4 am. After a search of the B1 compartment yielded no results, Kumar alerted the TTE, who informed the RPF and GRP.
As the train continued towards Howrah, photographs of the missing infant were circulated to railway stations along the route. The train reached Howrah at 4.40 am. Around the same time, women working in jute fields near Lakshmipur, a few kilometres from Purbasthali, spotted the baby lying in the grass between the tracks. They alerted police, who rescued her and took her to Purbasthali station.
Police sent photographs of the rescued child to Kumar over WhatsApp. He identified her and rushed to Purbasthali, where officials verified his parentage. The Child Welfare Committee later handed the baby over to him.
Medical examinations showed the infant had physical injuries below her lip, on her head and near her eye. “The baby was not well and was crying. It appeared that the child was in pain,” Kumar said. He took her to a Kolkata doctor, who advised a full-body X-ray for possible internal injuries. Kumar expressed gratitude toward the local residents who found his daughter.
How the infant exited a locked compartment remains under investigation. Records show the Kamrup Express made an unscheduled stop at Dhatrigram station. Eastern Railway chief public relations officer Sibram Majhi stated that GRP and RPF units have initiated an investigation into the unscheduled stop and the child’s movement. Investigating teams are reviewing CCTV footage from all stations along the route to determine the sequence of events.