Patna, Mar 1 Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav has severely criticised the early morning Naxal attacks on two railway stations in Bihar which led to the disruption of train services on the Patna-Howrah main line for more than seven hours on Sunday.

He slammed the Nitish Kumar-led NDA Government for its failure to protect railway property from attacks by Maoists.

"The Railways are the lifeline of the country and we cannot protect every inch of the tracks. It is the duty of the state to ensure the safety of lakhs of people who travel by train every day and the Nitish Kumar Government has failed in it," Lalu said.

Naxals had attacked the Bhalui railway station between Keul and Jamui on the Danapur-Howrah main line in Bihar early this morning.

Another railway station at Ratnapur on the on Keul-Bhagalpur line near the West Bengal border was also set afire by around 100 Naxals.

The blast uprooted the tracks and damaged the overhead traction wires, Chief Public Relations Officer of East Central Railway A K Chandra said. There have been regular incidents of violence in the state, following the 24- hour Bihar-Jharkhand-Orissa-West Bengal strike called by CPI (Maoist) on Saturday.

While a BSNL mobile tower was damaged in Aurangabad district, another mobile tower of a private service provider was damaged in Rohtas district yesterday.

In another incident in Munger, a Maoist group beat up the station master of Ratanpur on Kiul-Bhagalpur section at Saturday midnight and set ablaze a portion of the station building. The track-changing panel and documents in the cabin of station master Lalit Kumar were gutted in the fire, Railway sources said. (ANI)