Panic on Taj Express after fire breaks out near Delhi station, passengers rescued

DCP (Railways) K P S Malhotra said, “A PCR call was received at 4.41 pm regarding a fire on a train. The IO (Investigating Officer) reached the spot and found that fire had broken out in three coaches — D-2, D-3 and D-4. These are general coaches with a chair car. The train was running 10 hours late and had left New Delhi railway station only at 3 pm.”

“The train was stopped and the fire doused. No one was injured as passengers had moved to the adjoining coaches, but the coaches were damaged. The Railways department is taking further legal action,” said the DCP.

Delhi Fire Services Chief Atul Garg said he received a call from the Sarita Vihar area regarding the fire on a passenger train. Six fire tenders were rushed to the spot and the blaze was extinguished in 40 minutes.

The fire started from the D-3 compartment and later spread to the two other coaches. D-3 was completely charred while D-4 was partially burnt, said a fire officer.

Another officer said, “Four fire tenders and two water tankers were rushed to the spot… the tracks were separated by a wall and grass so we had to station the fire tenders on the road and carry the hose towards the tracks after jumping a wall.”

A fire officer who was part of the operation said primary facie, the cause of the fire seemed to be a short circuit inside one of the bogies. “There were several combustible items on the train such as curtains and leather seats which helped the fire spread… After dousing the flames on the outside, we entered inside the compartment and extinguished small pockets of fire,” he said.

A committee of the RPF and Railways has been formed to look into the matter. “Once the report is out, the matter will be decided at a higher level. No case is being registered,” police said.

A Northern Railways spokesperson said all passengers were rescued by railway and police officials and the cause of the fire is being ascertained.

“A general coach has 108 chair cars, making it around 324 chairs in all three coaches. Around 300-10 passengers could have been in these coaches at the time of the incident. The exact number will be clarified after checking the chart,” said officials.