Train catches fire at station

Three coaches of the Karnataka Express were gutted in a mysterious fire, while the train was being readied for departure at a yard off New Delhi Railway Station on Wednesday.

Three coaches of the Karnataka Express were gutted in a mysterious fire, while the train was being readied for departure at a yard off New Delhi Railway Station on Wednesday.

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Officials raised an alarm at around 3.30 p.m when bogies of the southbound train were found burning near platform 7. No casualties were reported, and the fire was contained in an hour, said an official from Northern Railways.

The railways has not ruled out the possibility of mischief. “One of the three gutted bogies was some distance apart from the other two,” said the official.

Conspiracy theories floated immediately with officials finding similarity in the nature of the incident and a series of fires in coaches in 2004, caused allegedly by a miscreant named the “pyromaniac”, who was apprehended.

“In 2004 too, the coaches used to catch fire mysteriously,” the official said.

A committee has been set up to probe the incident and report to the Divisional Railway Manager of Delhi.