Five policemen, including a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) and the inspector-in-charge of Maheshtala police station, were injured in the violence.
The police had to lob tear gas shells and resort to baton charge to disperse the mob and bring the situation under control.
It all started at 10.30 a.m. when a group of protesters gathered on the railway track, blocking the movement of trains. The mob soon started pelting stones at trains.
The driver of the Budge Budge-bound Sealdah Local was forced out of his cabin. "Seeing a big crowd on tracks, I stopped the train. The mob asked me to get out of the cabin. When I informed my bosses, they told me to ensure my security first," said the driver.
The mob then attacked the engine, smashed the window panes of coaches with rods, sticks and stones, and also started uprooting seats, eyewitnesses said.
Later, the mob ransacked the station superintendent's office, attacked ticket booking counter and uprooted and threw the ticket vending machines on railway tracks. They also set afire the furniture, said an eyewitness.
Such was the mob fury that the terrified railway employees as well as the Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel had to hide in the toilet. "We all ran and hid ourselves in the toilet to save our lives," said a railway commercial staff.
"Those were terrible moments. Everything at the station was being razed," he said.
When the fire tenders arrived, they got stuck in the blockades put up outside the station. When the firemen could reach the spot, it was too late.
( With inputs from IANS )