The NSG Howrah mock drill, a high-intensity joint counter-terrorism exercise, simulated a hostile threat aboard a Vande Bharat Express, the National Security Guard said on Thursday.

The exercise was held at Howrah Railway Station. The NSG ran it in coordination with the Railway Protection Force (RPF), the West Bengal Special Task Force (STF), State Police and Fire Services, bringing five separate agencies into one response.

Purpose of the NSG Howrah mock drill

The force said the drill was meant to sharpen the rapid-response mechanism and improve coordination between agencies during a crisis.

Those agencies answer to different authorities. The NSG is a Union force that functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs, the RPF reports to the Ministry of Railways, and the STF, State Police and Fire Services come under the West Bengal government. A hostile-threat scenario on a train calls on all of them at once, which is what a joint drill rehearses.


Howrah and the Vande Bharat network

Howrah is one of the busiest rail terminals in the country and the starting point of the Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express, which began commercial service in January 2023. The NSG Howrah mock drill placed its simulated threat on that class of train.

PRAHAAR and the response pillar

Response is one of the seven pillars of the PRAHAAR counter terrorism policy, which the Ministry of Home Affairs outlined in the Rajya Sabha in August. The aggregation of internal capacities is another.

NSG engagement with state police forces

The NSG has also been working directly with state personnel in recent weeks. In August it opened a Comprehensive Capacity Building Module for Karnataka State Police Forces with a Capability Demonstration in Bengaluru, and began the first Mahila Commando Conversion Course at its Manesar academy, with women personnel from State Police Forces and the Central Armed Police Forces.

Earlier train and Bengal exercises

Earlier reporting had carried an NSG train intervention exercise aboard a Vande Bharat Express at Katra Railway Station, run with Jammu and Kashmir Police and the RPF, and a hostage-rescue drill at a hotel in Dhamakhali, North 24 Parganas, in West Bengal.