Fire breaks out in Lucknow-bound Shatabdi Express at Ghaziabad railway station, no one injured

Ghaziabad: A major fire broke out in the generator van of the Lucknow-bound New Delhi-Lucknow Swarn Shatabdi Express on Saturday morning at Ghaziabad railway station

Ghaziabad: A major fire broke out in the generator van of the Lucknow-bound New Delhi-Lucknow Swarn Shatabdi Express on Saturday morning at Ghaziabad railway station. Four fire tenders were pressed into service to control the blaze with officials confirming no injuries to any passenger.

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District fire department officials said they received a call around 7.04am and rushed at least four fire tenders to the station from the nearby Kotwali fire station .

“Firemen got the overhead electrification supply line cut and brought the fire under control within half an hour. The last coach of the train was affected which also houses a luggage compartment. We had to cut open one of the gates,” said Sunil Kumar Singh, chief fire officer of Ghaziabad.

He said the fire likely started in the coach midway and thick smoke was detected when the train reached Ghaziabad railway station at around 6.45am.

Senior railways officials said the train was allowed to leave at 8.20am. They maintained that the fire did not start while the train was moving.

“It appears that the fire started when the train arrived at Ghaziabad. The cause of the fire is unknown and will be investigated. The train was allowed to leave for Lucknow at around 8.20am and the affected coach was detached,” said chief PRO of northern railways.

Railway officials said the generator coach is meant for transporting individual consignments and powering the passenger utility services such as air conditioning.

Ashutosh Gangal, general manager of Northern Railway, who also arrived at the railway station on Saturday morning, said that an inquiry has been initiated into the incident.

“We offloaded the consignments from the coach to take up firefighting and the overhead electricity was also switched off. The consignment was taken into custody. The entire consignment will be inspected by inquiry committee and forensic team. They will check up if any of the items stocked inside was inflammable. The consignment was loaded into the coach under contract at New Delhi railway station,” he told reporters.

“We have taken the CCTV footage at the New Delhi railway station and consignment lying there will also be inspected. We will also estimate the loss during the incident,” he added.

News agency PTI quoting senior railway officials reported that the department is set to get cracking against those found smoking in trains and is mulling severe penalties, even arrest, for damaging public property after an initial probe in the recent fire in a coach of the Delhi-Dehradun Shatabdi Express.